AND 

AMAcrs  LIFEWORK 


HENRY  B.  V/RIGHl 


^iu^^"^ 


THE 

Will  of  God 


AND  A   MAN'S 


LIFEWORK 


Henry  B.  Wright 


"Christ  is  ... .  the  true,  the  living  way  of  access  to  God.  Give 
up  yourselves  therefore  to  Him  w^ith  a  cordial  confidence  and 
the  great  work  of  life  is  done." 

Timothy  Dwight,  Baccalaureate  Sermon,  at  Yale  in  1814. 


ASSOCIATION   PRESS 

New  York:    124  East  28th  Street 

London:  47  Paternoster  Row,  E.  C. 

1917 


Copyright,  1909 

The  International  Committee  of  Young  Men's 

Christian  Associations 


To 
MY  FATHER  and  MY  MOTHER 


PREFACE 

These  studies  were  originally  prepared  by  laymen  to  meet 
the  needs  of  students  in  the  Association  Bible  Classes  for 
Seniors  of  the  Academic  and  Scientific  Departments  of  Yale 
University.  It  was  hoped  that  they  might  prove  helpful  in 
giving  to  young  men  about  to  enter  upon  their  life  work  in 
many  different  professions  a  conception  of  the  highest  ideals 
which  these  careers  could  embrace. 

Largely  as  a  result  of  the  failure  to  distinguish  clearly 
between  the  decision  to  do  God's  will  and  the  act  of  volunteer- 
ing there  exists  among  many  college  students  today  an  erron- 
eous impression  that  the  doing  of  God's  will  is  synonymous 
solely  with  the  Clerical  and  Missionary  careers.  The  call  of  < 
God  is  popularly  interpreted  as  a  call  to  the  Professional 
Ministry;  Law,  Business,  Teaching,  Medicine,  Engineering 
and  like  professions  are  distinguished  as  secular.  They  are 
regarded  as  fields  into  which  man  may  enter  without  relation 
to  God's  will — realms  in  which  more  latitude  is  allowed  to  the 
individual  in  personal  morals  and  in  manner  of  life,  and  within 
which  he  is  largely  released  from  responsibility  for  the  ad- 
vancement of  the  Kingdom  of  God. 

Jesus  Christ  and  his  Apostles,  however,  entertained  no 
such  conception  of  the  so-called  "secular"  professions.  Our 
Lord  and  his  followers  were  themselves  laymen,  not  members 
of  the  professional  clergy  of  the  day.  To  them  all  honorable 
careers  were  ministries  and  service  in  these  so-called  "secular"i 
careers  seemed  to  them  to  demand  not  less,  but  more,  consecra- 
tion to  God  than  the  organized  church  required  of  its  leaders. 

This   great  truth,   which   more   than   any   other   was   the  , 
secret    of   the   mighty   advances    of    Christianity   in   the    first  ' 
centuries,  has  been  long  obscured;  but  during  the  last  decade 
more  than  at  any  other  time  it  has  been  rediscovered  and 
applied  in  America  and  the  result  has  been  a  great  leavening 
and  purification  of  our  public  and  private  life.      Professor 


▼i  PREFACE 

Peabody's  "Jesus  Christ  and  the  Social  Question"  and  Pro- 
fessor Jenks'  "Studies  in  the  Political  and  Social  Significance 
of  the  Life  and  Teaching  of  Jesus" — the  method  of  which 
has  been  largely  followed  in  these  outlines — are  noteworthy 
in  this  regard.  Other  studies  Avhich  are  to  follow  on  the 
significance  of  the  teaching  of  Jesus  and  his  Apostles  to  the 
Physician^  to  the  Teacher,  to  the  Lawyer,  as  well  as  a  course 
on  the  scientific  significance  of  Jesus'  teaching,  will  do  much 
to  spread  and  apply  the  great  and  vital  truth  still  further. 

The  present  outlines  are  a  modest  attempt  to  give  a 
basis  in  experience  for  all  such  practical  and  more  general 
applications  of  Christianity  to  modern  life.  They  do  not,  for 
an  instant,  seek  to  discredit  the  preaching  ministry  at  home  or 
abroad  to  which  all  other  careers  must  ever  look  for  higher 
leadership  and  inspiration.  But  they  do  insist  and  strive  to 
demonstrate  that  this  career  is  not  the  only  field  of  human  ac- 
tivity in  which  God's  will  may  be  done  fully  and  completely. 
Every  young  man  in  America  today  ought  undoubtedly  to  sub- 
scribe to  the  declaration,  "I  will  be  a  clergyman  at  home  or 
abroad  if  God  so  directs."  But  just  as  surely  should  he  at  the 
same  time  subscribe  to  the  declaration,  "I  will  be  a  doctor, 
lawyer,  business  man,  teacher,  or  what  not,  at  home  or  abroad, 
if  God  so  directs."  The  first  declaration  alone  is  not  absolute 
but  partial  surrender  to  God's  will.  Only  the  two  together 
comprise  unconditional  enlistment  in  God's  service. 

To  make  clear  the  great  fact  of  God's  will  and  its 
part  in  human  life  in  a  set  of  studies  is  no  easy  task,  for 
the  underlying  truth  is  one  of  the  most  difficult  in  the  world 
of  ideas  to  grasp.  Even  when  clearly  apprehended  by  the  indi- 
vidual, it  is  wellnigh  impossible  of  demonstration  by  him  to 
others  as  a  mere  intellectual  proposition.  It  is  a  truth  which 
must  be  imparted,  not  taught.  Drummond  fully  realized  this 
when  he  wrote:  "The  end  of  life  is  to  do  God's  will.  Now 
that  is  a  great  and  surprising  revelation.  No  man  ever  found 
that  out.  It  has  been  before  the  world  these  eighteen  hun- 
dred years  yet  few  have  even  found  it  out  today."  If  only 
partially  apprehended  it  is  capable  of  the  most  grotesque 
and   dangerous     distortion,    especially    regarding    the    gifts 


PREFACE  vii 

promised  as  the  issues  of  obedience.  There  exists,  however, 
a  wide  and  for  the  most  part  sane  literature  on  the  general 
subject  and  on  its  particular  phases  which  has  never  been 
brought  together  and  arranged  for  daily  study.  These 
outlines  attempt  to  systematize  and  render  usable  to  students 
the  material  already  at  hand  rather  than  to  make  any 
original  contribution  to  the  subject  itself.  Hence  the  copious 
quotations  from  previous  writers. 

To  nearly  fifty  Bible  students  and  Christian  workers  in 
all  parts  of  the  countrj',  who  were  kind  enough  to  review  the 
book  before  it  went  to  press,  in  the  light  of  their  own  experi- 
ence and  of  the  needs  of  their  constituents,  and  whose  sugges- 
tions played  a  very  important  part  in  the  final  revision,  the 
author  desires  to  express  his  sincere  gratitude.  The  names 
of  John  G.  Magee  and  Joseph  \V.  Roe  would  have  appeared 
on  the  title  page  as  joint  authors  of  the  studies,  had  they  per- 
mitted it.  To  the  inspiration  of  their  lives  and  to  their  many 
suggestions  the  idea  and  plan  of  the  book  owes  much. 

In  conclusion,  I  would  that  these  studies  might  be  privi- 
leged to  do  a  little  something  toward  dissipating  a  prevalent 
idea  that  the  doing  of  God's  will  is  synonymous  with  a  narrow, 
difficult  and  disagreeable  life  work.  He  who  has  willed  to 
do  God's  will  completely  as  it  has  been  revealed  in  nature 
and  humanity,  and  as  it  will  daily  be  revealed  in  the  path 
of  duty,  has  for  the  first  time  fully  found  himself.  The 
issues  of  such  a  life — and  of  such  a  life  only — are  freedom, 
joy   and  peace. 

Taunton,  Mass.,  July  2^,  1909. 


CONTENTS 

A.     Introductory 

PAOK 

Stttdt  I.  3 

God  has  a  Plan  for  Every  Human  Life. 

Stttdt  II.  13 

Jesus  and  the  Will  of  God. 

Study  III.  23 

The  Apostles  and  the  Will  of  God. 

Stttdt  IV.  31 

The  Principle  of  Surrender  of  Self  Involved  in  Doing  God's 
Will  a  Reasonable  One  and  Fundamental  in  Other  Depart- 
ments of  Life. 

B.  The  Decision  to  Do  God's  Will 

Study  V.  43 

The  Relation  of  the  Act  of  Surrender  of  Self  to  Other  Reli- 
gious Rites  and  Spiritual  Experiences. 

Studt  VI.  53 

The  Alternatives  to  Doing  God's  Will  as  a  Life  Purpose. 

Stttdt  VII.  63 

The  Spiritual  Crisis  Involved  in  Facing  the  Issue  of  Sur- 
render of  Self.     Its  Symptoms  and  its  Course. 

Studt  VIII.  77 

To  Find  Out  and  to  Do  God's  Will  for  One's  Life  is  an 
Achievement  Possible   for  Any  Man. 

Studt  IX.  87 

God's  Will  may  be  Done  in  Any  Honorable  Trade  or  Pro- 
fession, either  at  Home  or  Abroad. 

Study  X.  101 

The  Necessity  for  Absolute  Surrender  of  Self. 

C.  The  Finding  Out  of  God's  Will 

Studt  XI.  117 

Willingness  to  Do  God's  Will  the  Necessary  Condition  for 
Knowledge  of  It. 

Studt  XII.  131 

The  Universal  Will  of  God  for  All  Men. 


X  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Stttdy  XIII.  141 

The  Particular  Will  of  God  for  Each  Individual  Man. 

Study  XIV.  153 

How  to  Find  Out  the  Particular  Will  of  God.      (a)    The 
Views  of  Modern  Religious  Leaders. 

Study  XV.  167 

How  to  Find  Out  the  Particular  Will  of  God  (concluded), 
(b)  The  Fourfold  Touchstone  of  Jesus  and  the  Apostles. 

Stttdy  XVI.  177 

The  Fourfold  Touchstone,     (a)  The  First  Test— Purity. 

Stttdy  XVII 187 

The    Fourfold    Touchstone    (continued).      (b)    The    Second 
Test — Honesty. 

Study  XVIII 197 

The    Fourfold    Touchstone    (continued).       (c)    The    Third 
Test — Unselfishness. 

Study  XIX.  207 

The   Fourfold   Touchstone    (concluded),      (d)    The    Fourth 
Test — Love. 

D.     The  Issues  of  Facing  the  Problem  of  Doing  God's  Will 

Study  XX.  221 

The  Issues  of  Rejection  and  Disobedience. 

Study  XXI.  233 

The  Issues  of  Obedience,     (a)  Knowledge. 

Study  XXII 245 

The  Issues  of  Obedience  (continued),     (b)  Protection  from 
Harm  and  Provision  for  All  Needs. 

Study  XXIII. 255 

The  Issues  of  Obedience  (continued),     (c)  Assurance  as  to 
One's  Duty  and  Power  to  Achieve  Results. 

Study  XXIV 263 

The  Issues  of  Obedience   (continued),     (d)   Constant  Com- 
panionship. 

Study  XXV 271 

The  Issues  of  Obedience  (concluded),     (e)  Eternal  Life. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

(The  arrangement  is  chronological.) 

The  Bible.    American  Revised  Version. 

Whenever  a  number  of  passages  are  cited  from  the  New  Testament 
in  the  daily  studies  they  have  been  arranged  in  the  probable  order 
of  the  historical  composition  of  the  books  from  which  they  are  taken. 
Passages  from  the  Old  Testament  are  generally  enclosed  in  brackets, 
inasmuch  as  the  studies  are  based  on  the  teaching  of  Jesus  and  the 
Apostles. 

Bushnell,  Horace.  Sermons  for  the  New  Life.  No.  I. — "Every- 
Man's  Life  a  Plan  of  God." 

Robertson,  F.  W.  Sermons.  Second  Series,  No.  VII. — "Obedi- 
ence the  Organ  of  Spiritual  Knowledge." 

Ibsen,  H.     Brand. 

Macdonald,  George.    Robert  Falconer. 

Mozley.  Sermons  before  the  University  of  Oxford.  No.  13. — 
"The  True  Test  of  Spiritual  Birth." 

Drummond,  Henry.  The  Ideal  Life.  Last  six  chapters  in  the 
book. 

Brooks,  Phillips.  The  Influence  of  Jesus.  I.  "On  the  Moral 
Life  of  Man." 

Moody,  D.  L.    Secret  Power.     (Colportage  Library,  No.  8.) 

MacNeil.  The  Spirit  Filled  Life.     (Colportage  Library,  No.  49.) 

Meyer,  F.  B.  The  Secret  of  Guidance.  (Colportage  Library,  No. 
32.) 

James,  William.  The  Will  to  Believe  and  other  essays  in  Popu- 
lar Philosophy. 

Murray,  Andrew.  Absolute  Surrender.  (Colportage  Library, 
No.  54.) 

Smith,  G.  A.    Life  of  Henry  Drummond.    Close  of  Chapter  V. 

Murray,  Andrew.  The  School  of  Obedience.  (Colportage 
Library,  No.  73.) 

Speer,  R.  E.  "Remember  Jesus  Christ."  No.  4.— "The  Rule  of 
the  Royal  Life." 

Starbuck.     The  Psychology  of  Religion. 

Coe.    The  Spiritual  Life. 

Royce,  J.  The  World  and  the  Individual.  Vol.  II.,  Lectures 
8-10. 

Chapman.  The  Power  of  a  Surrendered  Life.  (Colportage 
Library,  No.  40.) 

Davidson,  A.  B.    The  Called  of  God. 

James,  William.     Varieties  of  Religious  Experience. 


xii  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Speer,  R.  E.  The  Principles  of  Jesus.  Chapter  III. — ^"Jesiis  and 
the  WiU  of  God." 

Stanton.    Article  "Will"  in  Hastings'  Dictionary  of  the  Bible. 

Gordon,  S.  D.    Quiet  Talks  on  Power. 

McConkey,  James  H.  The  Surrendered  Life.  (To  be  obtained 
free  from  Box  218,  Harrisburg,  Pa.) 

Peahody,  F.  G.  Jesus  Christ  and  the  Christian  Character. 
Pages  99-102. 

Richards.    God's  Choice  of  Men. 

Gilman,    The  Open  Secret  of  Nazareth. 

Little.    The  Lady  of  the  Decoration. 

Gordon,  S.  D.    Quiet  Talks  on  Personal  Problems. 

Speer,  R.  E.    The  Marks  of  a  Man. 

Royce,  J.    The  Philosophy  of  Loyalty. 

Mott,  J.  R.  "Our  Religion  Primarily  a  Matter  of  the  Will." 
Record  of  Christian   Work,  September,   1908. 

It  is  assumed  that  all  students  have  access  to  Speer's  Man  Christ 
Jesus  and  his  Principles  of  Jesus,  to  both  of  which  frequent  reference 
is  made.  In  the  daily  studies  based  on  these  books  the  pages  have 
been  purposely  left  blank  in  order  that  the  student  may  copy  in  an 
outline  of  the  assigned  paragraphs. 

Where  the  Scripture  references  are  numerous  the  more  import- 
ant ones  have  been  specially  designated  for  the  benefit  of  those 
whose  time  for  each  day's  study  is  limited. 

In  the  studies  the  following  order  has  been  taken  as  the 
probable  one  for  the  dates  of  composition  of  the  books  of  the  New 
Testament.  Within  the  four  main  groups  which  may  be  regarded  as 
practically  certain  the  order  of  the  several  documents  is  of  course  in 
many  instances  wholly  arbitrary.  For  the  general  purposes  of  a  his- 
torical study  of  the  development  of  the  teaching  regarding  God's 
will,  however,  it  is  essential  that  some  order  be  taken  and  until  more 
evidence  is  at  hand  the  decision  between  two  alternatives  must  lie 
with  the  individual  investigator. 

I.  The    Pauline    Writings.     I    Thess.,   II    Thess.,   Gal.,    I    Cor., 

II  Cor.,  Rom.,  Col.,  Eph.,  Philem.,  Phil.,  [I  Tim.,  II  Tim.,  Titus.] 

II.  The  Biographies  of  Jesus  and  Paul.  Mark,  Matt.,  Luke, 
Acts. 

III.  Post  Pauline  Writings.    *  [James],  Heb.,  I  Peter. 

IV.  The  Johannine    Writings.     Rev.,   John,   I  John,   II   John, 

III  John. 

V.  II  Peter,  Jude. 


*There  seems  to  be  no  means  of  dating  the  book  of  James. 


A.    INTRODUCTORY 

study       I,     God  has   a  Plan   for  Every  Human  Life. 

Study    II.    Jesus  and  the   Will  of  God. 

Study  III.     The  Apostles  and  the  Will  of  God. 

Study  IV.  The  Principle  of  Surrender  of  Self  Involved  in 
Doing  God's  Will  a  Reasonable  One  and  Fundamental  in  Other 
Departments  of  Life. 


STUDY    I 

God  has  a  Plan  for  Every  Human  Life 

"I  will  gird  thee,  though  thou  hast  not  known  me." — Isaiah  45:  5. 

"For  who  withstandeth  his  will?  Nay  but,  O  man,  who  art  thou 
that  repliest  against  God?  Shall  the  thing  formed  say  to  him  that 
formed  it.  Why  didst  thou  make  me  thus?  Or  hath  not  the  potter  a 
right  over  the  clay,  from  the  same  lump  to  make  one  part  a  vessel 
unto  honor  and  another  unto  dishonor?"  — Rom.  9:  19-21. 

"Is  it  not  lawful  for  me  to  do  what  I  will  with  mine  own?" 

—Matt.  SO:  15. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Bushnell.     The   New  Life.     I. — "Every  Man's   Life   a   Plan  of 
God." 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  5 

Study  I.     God  has  a  Plan  for  Every  Human  Life 

FIRST  DAY 

God  has  a  Plan  for  the  Development  of  the  World  which  Extends  to 
all  Departments  of  Life  and  to  all   Spheres   of   Human   Activity 

[Isaiah  44 -*-==«;  Jer.  18  ^' «.] 

I  Cor.  12  *-«•  12;  II  Cor.  10  '^;  Rom.  9  ''  (cf.  Ex.  9  '')  ; 
Col.  1  1^  Eph.  2  ". 

Mark  13  2o>32;  Matt.  6 -^-^\  10  ^^'  ^°,  15  ^^^  25  3*;  Acts 
1^17-«. 


Heb.  1  i^-i^  3*;  Rev.  17 '^ 

"Man  advances  in  the  execution  of  a  plan  which  he  has 
not  conceived  and  of  which  he  is  not  even  aware.  He  is  the 
free  and  intelligent  artificer  of  a  work  which  is  not  his  own. 
....  Conceive  a  great  machine^  the  design  of  which  is  cen- 
tred in  a  single  mind,  though  its  various  parts  are  intrusted 
to  different  workmen,  separated  from,  and  strangers  to  one  an- 
other. No  one  of  them  understands  the  work  as  a  whole,  nor 
the  general  result  which  he  concurs  in  producing;  but  every- 
one executes  with  intelligence  and  freedom,  by  rational  and 
voluntary  acts,  the  particular  task  assigned  to  him." 

Guizot:  Lectures  on  the  History  of  Civilization,  XL 

"We  need  to  know  not  merely  what  the  essential  quali- 
ties of  civilization  and  of  our  social  nature  really  are;  but  we 
require  to  know  the  general  course  in  which  they  are  tending. 
The  more  closely  we  look  at  it,  the  more  distinctly  we  see  that 
progress  moves  in  a  clear  and  definite  path;  the  development 
of  man  is  not  a  casual  or  arbitrary  motion ;  it  moves  in  a  regu- 
lar and  consistent  plan.  Each  part  is  unfolded  in  due  order — 
the  whole  expanding  like  a  single  plant." 

Frederic  Harrison:    I'he  Meaning  of  History,  page  15. 

"It  is  my  conviction  ....  that  capabilities  of  a  peculiar 
character  exist  in  almost  every  one  and  that  a  man's  value  to 
society  depends  to  a  large  extent  upon  his  discovering  and 
developing  his  special  talent." 

Gulick:  The  Efficient  Life,  page  11. 


6  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

Study  I.     God  has  a  Plan  for  Every  Human  Life 

SECOND  DAY 

Yet  God  has  Decreed  that  this  Plan  shall  not  Advance  without  the 
Voluntary  and  Freely  Given  Cooperation  of  Mankind — "We  are 
God's  Fellow- workers" 

I  Cor.  3*^-";  II  Cor.  5  ^^  6  ^;  Rom.  8  ^^  (marginal  note) ; 
Phil.  2  ^2.  13 

Mark  6  ^'  «,  16  20;  Matt.  23  ^7;  Luke  1  ^%  10  ='  »,  11  ^-is. 
18  ^-«^ 

Heb.  2  «-%  13  21;  Rev.  3  ^O;  John  5  ^'^  ^^  8  ^^ 

Just  as  it  is  easier  for  any  parent  or  teacher  to  do  an 
appointed  task  himself  than  to  guide  patiently  the  stumbling 
efforts  of  his  charges,  so  we  might  have  expected  that  God 
would  have  completed  himself  the  development  of  the 
kingdom  of  God  on  earth.  Only  infinite  love  could  have 
decreed  that  this  work  should  wait  for  every  one  of  its  ad- 
vances upon  the  voluntary  cooperation  of  blind,  stubborn, 
whimsical  human  wills.  Yet  this  is  the  deeper  meaning  of 
the  Fatherhood  of  God  as  revealed  on  Calvary.  There  are 
two  parts  to  every  advance  in  human  civilization — God's  part 
and  man's  part.  God  is  ever  ready  with  his  plan — and  the 
complete  means  for  its  realization — in  establishing  the  happy 
home,  the  efficient  school,  the  righteous  town  or  city.  Yet 
he  never  forces  or  compels  this  plan.  Patiently  and  un- 
complainingly he  waits  while  the  pupil  in  the  school  of  life 
experiments  with  his  own  little  stubborn,  selfish  schemes, 
comforting  him  without  reproach  in  his  failures,  until  finally 
love,  as  revealed  in  the  teacher,  awakens  confidence  and  desire 
to  be  led  in  the  child  (Rom.  2^), 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  T 

Study  I.     God  has  a  Plan  for  Every  Human  Life 

THIRD  DAY 

God  has  a  Particular  Part  for  Every  Man  to  Perform  in  this  Plan 

[Isaiah  49^;  Jer.  1  ^] 

Gal.  1  ^^'  1";  I  Cor.  1  '\  7  ''  'S  12  "  f  (esp.  v.  11)  ;  Rom. 

9  "•  ";  Eph.  2^%  4  ^'  s ;  Phil.  3  '~. 

Mark    13  3";    Matt.    11^",    19'',    20  ^-^'^' ",    25'^;    Luke 

John  15",  17%  18". 

"What  now  shall  we  say  of  man,  appearing  as  it  were  in 
the  center  of  this  great  circle  of  uses.'*  They  are  all  adjusted 
for  him;  has  he,  then,  no  ends  appointed  for  himself.'*  Noblest 
of  all  creatures  and  closest  to  God  as  he  certainly  is,  are  we 
to  say  that  his  Creator  has  no  definite  thoughts  concerning 
him,  no  place  prepared  for  him  to  fill,  no  use  for  him  to  serve 
which  is  the  reason  for  his  existence.^  .... 

"God  has  a  definite  life-plan  for  every  human  person, 
girding  him,  visibly  or  invisibly,  for  some  exact  thing  which  it 
will  be  the  true  significance  and  glory  of  his  life  to  have  ac- 
complished  And    all    men    may    have    this:    for    the 

humblest  and  commonest  have  a  place  and  work  assigned  them 
in  the  same  manner  and  have  it  for  their  privilege  to  be  always 

ennobled   in  the  same  lofty   consciousness They    [the 

ScrijDtures]  show  us  how  frequently,  in  the  conditions  of 
obscurity  and  depression,  preparations  of  counsel  arc  going 
on  by  which  the  commonest  offices  are  to  become  the  necessary 
first  chapter  of  a  great  and  powerful  history — David  among 
the  sheep ;  Elisha  following  after  the  plough ;  Nehemiah 
bearing  the  cup:  Hannah,  who  can  say  nothing  less  common 
than  that  she  is  the  wife  of  Elkanah  and  a  woman  of  sorrowful 
spirit — who  that  looks  on  these  humble  people,  at  their  humble 
post  of  service,  and  discovers  at  last  how  dear  a  purpose 
God  was  cherishing  in  them,  can  be  justified  in  thinking  that 
God  has  no  particular  plan  for  him,  because  he  is  not  signal- 
ized by  any  kind  of  distinction God  is  guiding  every 


THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


man  for  a  place  and  calling,  in  which,  taking  it  from  him,  even 
though  it  be  internally  humble,  he  may  be  as  consciously 
exalted  as  if  he  held  the  rule  of  a  kingdom." 

Bushnkll:  The  New  Life,  pages  10-13. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  9 

Study  I.     God  has  a  Plan  for  Every  Human  Life 

FOURTH  DAY 

Man  may  Find  out  what  his  Particular  Part  is  and  it  is  the  True  Pur 
pose  of  his  Existence  to  Discover  and  Do  it 

[II  Sam.  7  ^'  ^  Psalm  32  «•  «;  Jer.  1  ^■^\] 
Acts  26  ^'-". 

"Every  human  soul  has  a  complete  and  perfect  plan 
cherished  for  it  in  the  heart  of  God — a  divine  biography 
marked  out,  which  it  enters  into  life  to  live.  This  life,  rightly 
imfolded,  will  be  a  complete  and  beautiful  whole,  an  experi- 
ence led  on  by  God  and  unfolded  by  his  secret  nurture,  as  the 
trees  and  the  flowers  by  the  secret  nurture  of  the  world,  a 
drama,  cast  in  the  mould  of  a  perfect  art  with  no  part  wanting ; 
a  divine  study  for  the  man  himself  and  for  others  ;  a  study  that 
shall  forever  unfold,  in  wondrous  beauty,  the  love  and  faith- 
fulness of  God;  great  in  its  conception,  great  in  the  Divine 
skill  by  which  it  is  shaped;  above  all,  great  in  the  momentous 
and  glorious  issues  it  prepares." 

Bushnell:  Ibid. 

"God's  will  concerning  foreordination,  election,  the  plan 
of  salvation  and  the  problems  of  eschatology  may  be  stated 
in  highly  technical  and  abstract  phraseology  and  is  doubtless 
susceptible  of  many  shades  of  interpretation.  God's  will 
however  as  it  applies  to  home  life,  social  intercourse,  the 
training  of  children,  the  doing  of  honest  work  and  the 
making  of  a  fair  bargain,  the  care  of  the  poor,  the  reform 
of  the  vicious,  the  encouragement  of  the  unfortunate,  the 
casting  of  the  ballot,  the  administration  of  office,  participation 
in  plans  for  village  improvement,  cooperation  in  methods  of 
social  reform,  does  indeed  require  painstaking  thought  and 
laborious  study  to  discover  it;  but  once  clearly  apprehended, 
it  is  not  difficult  to  state  it  in  clear  and  convincing  terms. 
....  Theological  education  has  been  disproportionately 
abstract,  linguistic  and  antiquarian.  It  has  taught  God's  will 
for  Israel,  rather  than  for  the  American  Republic." 

William  D.  Hyde  :  Forum,  June,  1892,  page  52^. 


10  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

Study  L     God  has  a  Plan  for  Every  Human  Life 

FIFTH  DAY 

Yet  God  Forces  no  Man  to  Accept  the  Divine  Plan  for  his  Life.  Man 
may  Refuse  or  Neglect  to  Find  it  out,  or  Having  Found  it  out  he 
may  Refuse  to  Perform  it  and  Follow  Plans  of  his  own  Making 

Rom.  2  ^  8  -»•  2^ ;  Col.  4  ''. 

Matt.  19  ^•'-'^  Luke  6  ^'  (end)  ;  Acts  14  ''-'■',  17  ''■"  (esp. 

V.  27)^ 

John  320^5^°,  lO^''^^. 


"God  has  a  life  plan  for  every  human  life.  In  the 
eternal  counsels  of  his  will,  when  he  arranged  the  destiny  of 
every  star  and  every  sand-grain  and  every  grass  blade  and  , 
each  of  those  tiny  insects  which  live  but  for  an  hour,  the 
Creator  had  a  thought  for  you  and  me.  Our  life  was  to  be 
the  slow  unfolding  of  this  thought,  as  the  cornstalk  from 
the  corn  or  the  flower  from  the  gradually  opening  bud.  It 
was  a  thought  of  what  we  were  to  be,  of  what  we  might 
become,  of  what  he  would  have  us  to  do  with  our  days  and 
years  or  influence  with  our  lives.  But  we  all  had  the  terrible 
power  to  evade  this  thought  and  shape  our  lives  from  another 
thought,  from  another  will  if  we  chose.  The  bud  could  only 
become  a  flower,  and  the  star  revolve  in  the  orbit  God  had 
fixed.  But  it  was  man's  prerogative  to  choose  his  path,  his 
duty  to  choose  it  in  God.  But  the  divine  right  to  choose  at  all 
has  always  seemed  more  to  him  than  his  duty  to  choose  in 
God,  so,  for  the  most  part,  he  has  taken  his  life  from  God  and 
cut  out  his  career  from  himself." 

Drummond:  The  Ideal  Life,  page  305. 

Man's  opportunity  to  choose  freely  is  the  deeper  meaning 
of  the  temptation  of  Jesus.  Before  Jesus  enters  upon  his 
life  work  the  Spirit  (Mark  1  i^'^^)  leads  him  to  the  wilder- 
ness and  allows  him  to  decide  freely  for  or  against  God. 
God  never  forces  himself  upon  us.  He  always  respects  man's 
personality. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  11 

Study  I.     God  has  a  Plan  for  Every  Human  Life 

SIXTH  DAY 

Yet  God's  Great    Plan  for  the  World  will  be   Ultimately   Perfected 
Despite  the  Delays  and  Disorder  Introduced  by  Human  Perversity 

[Daniel  4  ^\] 

II  Cor.  13  «;  Rom.  3^9  '''  ''•  '%  H  ''• 

Mark  4  26-29. 30-32.  Matt.  1324-80,31-33, 37-43^  55  13 


Acts  1%  5  38'3»;  James  5 ''^ 

"Most  of  them^  even  the  idiots  and  criminals,  do  a  little 
something  tovrards  progress.  The  world  is  so  happily  ordered 
that  it  is  impossible  for  one  man  to  do  much  harm  or  to 
avoid  doing  some  good,  and  one  of  the  greatest  forces  for 
good  is  the  power  of  a  bad  example." 

George  H.  Lorimer. 

"And  then  when  he  cannot  use  us  any  more  for  our  own 
good,  he  will  use  us  for  the  good  of  others — an  example  of  the 
misery  ....  to  which  any  soul  must  come,  when  all  the 
good  ends  and  all  the  holy  callings  of  God's  friendly  and 
fatherly  purpose  are  exhausted.  Or,  it  may  be  now  that, 
remitting  all  other  plans  and  purposes  in  our  behalf,  he  will 
henceforth  use  us,  wholly  against  our  will,  to  be  the  demonstra- 
tion of  his  justice  and  avenging  power  before  the  eyes  of 
mankind." 

Bushnell:  The  New  Life,  page  15. 

"Suppose  two  men  before  a  chessboard — the  one  a  novice, 
the  other  an  expert  player  of  the  game.  The  expert  intends 
to  beat.  But  he  cannot  foresee  exactly  what  any  one  actual 
move  of  his  adversary  may  be.  He  knows,  however,  all  the 
possible  moves  of  the  latter;  and  he  knows  in  advance  how  to 
meet  each  of  them  by  a  move  of  his  own  which  leads  in  the 
direction  of  victory.  And  the  victory  infallibly  arrives,  after 
no  matter  how  devious  a  course,  in  the  one  predestined  check- 
mate to  the  novice's  king Let  now  the  novice  stand  for 

us  finite  free  agents,  and  the  expert  for  the  infinite  mind  in 


12  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

which   the   universe   lies The    Creator's    plan   of   the 

universe  would  thus  be  left  blank  as  to  many  of  its  actual 

details,  but  all  possibilities  would  be  marked  down But 

the  rest  of  the  plan  including  its  final  upshot  would  be  rigor- 
ously determined  once  for  all Of  one  thing,  however, 

he  [the  Creator]  might  be  certain;  and  that  is  that  his  world 
was  safe  and  that  no  matter  how  much  it  might  zigzag,  he 
could  surely  bring  it  home  at  last." 

James:  The  Will  to  Believe j  pages  181,  182. 


Study  L     God  has  a  Plan  for  Every  Human  Life 

SEVENTH  DAY— REVIEW 

1.  Is  it  right  to  say  that  the  life  of  every  man  who  ever 
lived  in  the  world,  sinner  or  saint,  was  lived  as  planned  by 
God;  or  that  God  had  a  plan  for  every  man  which  may  or 
may  not  have  been  realized? 

2.  Have  cripples  and  the  insane  a  part  in  God's  plan 
for  the  world? 

3.  Have  criminals  a  part  also?  Have  sin  and  tempta- 
tion ? 

4.  Why  is  the  theory  that  God  has  a  plan  for  the  world 
so  common  in  history  and  science  today? 

5.  Why  are  men  often  unwilling  to  find  out  God's  plan 
for  their  lives  ? 

6.  Has  God  a  plan  for  the  development  of  every  town 
and  city  in  the  world?  (Jer.  18^''';  Matt.  23")  for  every 
school  and  university  ?  for  every  home  ?  Have  any  of  these 
ever  been  fully  realized  ?    What  is  the  test  ? 

7.  Can  God  use  his  enemies  for  the  accomplishment  of 
his  purposes?     (Cf.  Acts  4  "-  ^\  25  ^'^^  -{-  Rom.  1  '\) 


STUDY    II 

Jesus  aad  the  Will  of  God 

"For  I  am  come  down  from  heaven,  not  to  do  mine  own  will, 
but  the  will  of  him  that  sent  me."  — John  6 :  38. 

"My  Father  ....  not  as  I  will,  but  as  thou  wilt." 

—Matt.  26  :  39. 

"My  meat  is  to  do  the  will  of  him  that  sent  me,  and  to  accomplish 
his  work."  — John  4:34. 

"I  do  always  the  things  that  Are  pleasing  to  him." 

— John  8:  29  (end). 

"Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  gave  himself  for  our  sins,  that  he 
might  deliver  us  out  of  this  present  evil  world,  according  to  the  will 
of  our  God  and  Father."  —Qal.  1:3,4. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Speer.    Principles  of  Jesus.    Chapter  III.-«Jesus  and  the  WiU 
of  God." 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  15 

Study  II.     Jesus  and  the  Will  of  God 

FIRST  DAY 

The  Idea  that  the  Doing  of  God's  Will  is  the  Supreme  Purpose  of  Life 
was  not  Originated  by  Jesus  but  was  Restated  and  Emphasized 
by  Him 

"Tho'  truths  in  manhood  darkly  join 
Deep-seated  in  our  mystic  frame. 
We  yield  all  blessing  to  the  name 
Of  him  that  made  them  current  coin." 

Tennyson:   In  Memoriam. 

[Psalms  40  ^'^  139^*,  US'**;  Daniel  4".  Read  also 
Gen.  22  '-'K] 

Matt.  13  ^^ 
Heb.  10  '. 

"Almost  everything  Christ  said  was  old.  Christ's  teach- 
ing was  almost  all  taken  out  of  the  Old  Testament.  Almost 
all  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  could  be  constructed  from  the 
Old  Testament.  Many  of  Christ's  parables  have  their  roots 
in  suggestions  in  the  Old  Testament.  Some  of  Christ's 
miracles  are  clearly  only  the  working  out  of  Old  Testament 
teachings.  The  body  and  substance  of  Christ's  doctrine  was 
borrowed,  with  a  new  spirit  and  life,  of  course,  from  the  Old 

Testament He  was  constantly  telling  those  who  took 

him  for  a  novel  instructor,  that  everything  was  in  their  own 
records  and  temples  if  their  eyes  were  only  open  to  see  it." 

Speer:  Remember  Jesus  Christ,  page  197. 

"This  was  largely  Christ's  own  method.  He  dealt  with 
principles.  His  teaching  was  mainly  excavation — the  dis- 
interring of  hidden  things,  the  bringing  to  light  of  the  pro- 
found ethical  principles  hidden  beneath  Rabbinic  subtleties 
and  Pharisaic   forms." 

Drummond:  The  New  Evangelism,  pages  70,  71. 

"Innumerable  men  had  passed  by,  across  the  universe, 
with  a  dumb,  vague  wonder,  such  as  the  very  animals  may 


16  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

feel  or  with  a  painful,  fruitlessly  inquiring  wonder  such  as 
men  only  feel: — till  the  great  thinker  came — the  original 
man,  the  seer;  whose  shaped  spoken  thoughts  awake  the 
slumbering  capability  of  all  into  thought.  It  is  ever  the  way 
with  tlie  thinker,  the  Spiritual  Hero.  What  he  says  all  men 
were  not  far  from  saying,  were  longing  to  say." 

Carlyle:   Heroes  and  Hero  Worship. 

"Although  it  was  known  in  Old  Testament  times  and 
expressed  in  Old  Testament  books,  it  was  reserved  for  Jesus 
Christ  to  make  the  full  discovery  to  the  world  and  add  to  his 
teaching  another  of  the  profoundest  truths  which  have  come 
from  heaven  to  earth — that  the  mysteries  of  the  Father's  will 
are  hid  in  this  word  'obey.'  " 

Dbummond:  The  Ideal  Life,  page  311. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  17 

Study  II.     Jesus  and  the  Will  of  God 

SECOND  DAY 

To  Find  God's  Will  for  His  Life  and  to  Do  it,  was  the  Ruling  Principle 
and  the  Energizing  Purpose  of  Jesus'  Life 

Gal.  1  *;  Rom.  15  ^  Matt.  4  ",  6  ^\  26  '«-*2;  Heb.  10  '"^'^ ; 
John  4  ^\  5  ^\  6  ^\  9  *. 

This  principle 

Was  the  reason  for  the  Incarnation.     John  6  ^®. 

Settled  the  Temptation.     Matt.  4  ^°. 

Is  a  central  thought  in  the  Lord's  Prayer.     Matt.  6  ^**. 

Was  the  energizing  cause  of  Jesus'  marvelous  ministry 
of  service.    John  4  ^*. 

Inspired  the  sacrifice  of  the  Crucifixion.     Gal.  1  *;  Matt. 

26  38-42 

"The  Will  of  God  was  Jesus'  North  Star." 

John  R.  Mott. 

"What  he  [Jesus]  desires  first  of  all  to  communicate  is 
not  a  system  of  doctrine  or  a  rush  of  feeling  but  an  ethical 
decision.  Before  his  public  ministry  begins  he  withdraws 
from  human  companionship  and  faces  the  special  temptations 
of  conscious  power,  of  self  display  and  of  worldly  glory 
which  threaten  him.  Once  and  for  all  time  he  fortifies  his 
will  against  them,  and  from  that  time  to  the  day  when  he 
gives  back  his  life  to  God,  saying,  'Not  my  will  but  thine 
be  done,'  the  dominating  factor,  both  in  his  experience  and 
his  teaching,  is  not  intellectual  achievement  or  emotional  ex- 
altation but  ethical  decision." 

F.  G.  Peabody:  Jesus  Christ  and  the  Christian  Char- 
acter, pages  100,  101, 


18  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  n.     Jesus  and  the  Will  of  God 

THIRD  DAY 

He  Faced  the  Alternatives  to  doing  God's  Will  as  Definite,  Conscious, 
Spiritual  Temptations,  and  Successfully  Overcame  Them 

Matt.  4  ^-" ;  Luke  4  ^-". 

The  temptation  in  the  Wilderness  was  the  crisis  when 
Jesus  came  face  to  face  with  the  three  alternative  life  purposes, 
which  a  man  may  choose  other  than  that  of  a  life  of  complete 
surrender  to  God's  will.  The  four  possible  choices  may  all 
be  found  in  the  narrative  given  by  Matthew  and  Luke: 

1.  The  life  of  mere  physical  self-indulgence.  Matt. 
4  3 ;  Luke  4  \ 

2.  The  life  of  mere  wealth-amassing.     Matt.  4  ^'  ®;  Luke 

3.  The  life  of  mere  fame-seeking.  Matt.  45-6;  Luke 
4  »■". 

4.  The  life  wholly  surrendered  to  God.     Matt.  4  ^^ 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  19 


Study  II.     Jesus  and  the  Will  of  God 

FOURTH  DAY 

There  were  Certain  Definite  Ways  in  which  He  Learned  the  Will  of 
God  for  His  Life 

Matt.  6  2^  18  "-^S  26  39-**;  Heb.  10^;  John  5^",  6'\ 
7  ",  8  -«. 

A  careful  study  of  the  way  in  which  Jesus  learned  the 
definite  will  of  God  for  each  particular  event  in  his  life  will 
be  taken  up  later.  It  is  sufficient  at  this  time  to  note  some  of 
the  more  general  and  outwardly  discernible  ways  by  which  he 
came  in  touch  with  God's  leading: 

1.  Through  willingness  to  obey  any  order  which  might 
come  from  God  before  he  knew  what  it  was.  Robertson  has 
said  that  obedience  not  mind  is  the  organ  of  spiritual  knowl- 
edge.    "He  that  is  willing  shall  know."     John  7  ^^. 

2.  From  God's  revelation  of  himself  in  such  human 
types  as  the  shepherd  and  the  father.     Matt.   18^^'^*;  John 

3.  From  God's  revelation  of  himself  in  nature.     Matt. 

4.  From  God's  revelation  of  himself  in  Scripture  and  in 
history.     Heb.  10  ^;  Luke  13  ^ "^ 

5.  By  the  definite  act  of  listening  for  God.  "As  I  hear." 
"As  the  father  taught  me."    John  5  3°,  8  ^^. 

6.  By  repeated  prayer  until  sure  conviction  came.  Mark 
l^^-''^  Matt.  26  ^»-". 


eO  THE  WUX.  OF  GOD 


Study  II.    Jesus  and  the  Will  of  God 

FIFTH  DAY 

There  were  Definite  and  Immediate  Issues  of  this  Obedience  in  Jesus' 
Earthly  Life 

Phil.  2=^-^  Matt.  26 ''-*^ 

1.  Ceaseless   activity  to   accomplish  his  work — "that   I 
should  lose  nothing."     John  6  ^^  4  ^*'  ^%  but 

A  strong  support  to  work  with — "my  meat."     John  4  ^*. 

2.  The  cup  of  suffering.     Matt.  26  ^^.     "Obedient  even 
unto  death."     Phil.  2  ^  ^  but 

A  sweet  fellowship  therein  which  transcends  all  pain — 
"brother,  sister,  mother."    Matt.  12  ^°. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  il 


Study  II.     Jesus  and  the  Will  of  God 

SIXTH  DAY 

The  Ultimate  Results 

Phil.  2  «-"  (cf.  I  John  2  ^^).  "He  is  exalted"— fullest 
self-realization. 

Heb.  10^"^".  "We  have  been  sanctified" — the  joy  of 
having  helped  others. 


38  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  IL     Jesus  and  the  Will  of  God 

SEVENTH  DAY— REVIEW 

1.  How  early  was  Jesus  conscious  that  the  doing  of 
God's  will  should  be  the  purpose  of  a  man's  life?  (Cf.  Luke 
2*»;  John  8^^.) 

2.  Today  we  have  the  example  and  teaching  of  Jesus 
as  revealed  in  the  New  Testament  to  show  us  what  the  will 
of  God  is.     From  what  sources  did  Jesus  learn? 

3.  Which  one  of  the  Hebrew  patriarchs  first  grasped 
this  idea?  Trace  its  growth  in  the  later  books  of  the  Old 
Testament.     (See  Davidson,  The  Called  of  God.) 

4.  Has  every  man,  even  without  intellectual  effort,  some 
faint  leading  of  what  God's  will  for  his  life  is?  Is  the  dis- 
tinction between  right  and  wrong  inborn  or  acquired?  What 
are  some  indications  of  such  leading  common  to  both  Christian 
and  non-Christian  people? 

5.  What  is  the  teaching  of  Socrates  on  the  subject  of 
obedience  to  God's  will  in  the  Apology,  Crito  and  Phaedo? 

6.  May  a  man  unconsciously  do  the  will  of  God  and  yet 
get  the  same  results  as  if  he  had  chosen  to  do  it? 

7.  Did  Jesus  ever  rebel  against  the  will  of  God  in  the 
earlier  years  of  his  life? 


STUDY    in 

The  Apostles  and  the  Will  of  God 

"Ye  are  witnesses  of  these  things." 

Jesus  to  the  Twelve — Luke  2^:48, 

"Christ  ....  in  whom  also  we  were  made  a  heritage,  having  been 
foreordained  according  to  the  purpose  of  him  who  worketh  all  things 
after  the  counsel  of  his  will."  —Eph.  1 :  10, 11. 

"And  be  not  fashioned  according  to  this  world:  but  be  ye  trans- 
formed by  the  renewing  of  your  mind,  that  ye  may  prove  what  is  the 
good,  and  acceptable,  and  perfect  will  of  God." 

Paul  to  the  Roman  Christians — Rom.  12:2. 


34  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  in.     The  Apostles  and  the  Will  of  God 

FIRST  DAY 

To  the  Apostles  and  Immediate  Followers  of  Jesus  Was  Intrusted  the 
Interpretation  and  Practical  Application  of  His  Teaching  Regarding 
the  Will  of  God 

Matt.  13  5^'  ^2;  Luke  24  *»;  Acts  10  "-*3. 

To  his  apostles  and  immediate  followers  Jesus  left  the 
difficult  and  responsible  task  of  interpreting  and  practically 
applying  to  the  age  in  which  they  livedo  the  great  eternal 
principle  that  obedience  to  God's  will  is  the  one  purpose  of 
life;  a  principle  which,  as  we  have  already  seen,  although 
stated  in  the  Old  Testament,  Jesus  had  unearthed  and  for  the 
first  time  fully  made  clear  (John  8  ^^).  The  revelation  and 
dissemination  of  this  new  truth  carried  with  it  grave  dangers 
(John  15^-'"*;  9*^),  and  the  apostles  undoubtedly  realized 
the  importance  of  their  task.  Many  of  the  letters  are  con- 
cerned with  correcting  of  false  teaching  regarding  God's  will. 
So  thorough  was  their  preaching  of  it  that  there  are  few 
chapters  in  the  entire  New  Testament  which  are  not  dominated 
by  the  general  idea,  and  few  books  or  letters  which  do  not 
deal  with  it  directly.  The  manifold  growth  of  the  idea  under 
the  different  conditions  which  presented  themselves  in  widely 
diverse  communities,  and  the  interpretation  of  each  new  situa- 
tion by  the  different  Christian  leaders  forms  a  most  interest- 
ing study  but  one  too  long  to  be  attempted  here.  We  must  con- 
fine ourselves  to  the  working  out  of  the  principle  in  the  lives 
of  the  leaders  of  the  early  church. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  S5 


Study  III.     The  Apostles  and  the  Will  of  God 

SECOND  DAY 

The  Early  Church  and  the  Will  of  God 

Acts  1  «-^S  2  ^-*'  ",  4  32-35, 

In  Acts  we  have  the  story  of  the  obedience  of  the  early 
church  to  God's  call  and  leading,  with  the  record  of  its  tri- 
umphant results.  The  early  Christian  leaders  had  no  doubt  as 
to  their  own  mission  (Acts  10*"'^').  Study  the  power  of  the 
early  church  in  winning  converts  in  spite  of  great  persecution 
(8  ^'  *,  5  *^,  19  ^*')  ;  also  the  difficulty  which  was  sometimes  ex- 
perienced in  making  clear  to  men  what  surrender  to  God's  will 
meant  (19  ^"*).  Note  also  that  the  form  in  which  God's  will 
was  revealed  to  men  was  through  compelling  convictions  (cf. 
19 ").     "I  must."     "We  must." 

Ananias  (9'°-''),  Philip  (8  2«),  Agabus  (11  ^s,  21^'), 
early  disciples  (13  \  15  ^\  21  *),  Cornelius  (10  ^'  "■  so,  3i)^ 
Peter  (10  ^%  11",  12^),  Paul  (9*%  16  «•  »' ^°,  18  »' i°,  19", 
22  7.10,17.18,21^  23",  26",  27"). 


THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  in.     The  Apostles  and  the  Will  of  God 

THIRD  DAY 

Peter  and  the  Will  of  God 

John  21  ^^-22. 

Perhaps  the  most  complete  change  that  takes  place  within 
the  circle  of  Jesus'  followers  after  the  resurrection  is  in  Peter. 
Review  briefly  the  main  facts  in  his  career  from  his  call  to 
Jesus'  crucifixion  (John  l*°f;  Matt.  14>^^-^\  17 'f;  26  "f; 
Mark  14  ®^).  What  indications  of  self-will  in  his  life?  What 
motives  generally  influenced  his  actions  in  this  period?  Study 
the  passage  given  for  today's  study  as  the  crisis  in  his  spiritual 
career.  What  does  verse  22  indicate  regarding  God's  will  for 
the  individual?  After  the  ascension  what  change  in  his  atti- 
tude? (Acts  5  29-32  -J  When  had  Jesus  foreseen  and  predicted 
this  change?    (Luke  22  "•  3^) 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  87 


Study  m.     The  Apostles  and  the  Will  of  God 

FOURTH  DAY 

John  and  the  Will  of  God 

Matt.  4  21.  22.  Mark  3  ";  John  19  ^^-",  21  ^o-^s. 

The  career  of  John  is  another  striking  instance  of  the 
power  of  God  in  transforming  a  man's  life,  when  that  life  has 
become  completely  obedient  to  the  Divine  Will.  The  Son  of 
Thunder  of  the  early  chapters  of  Mark  is  the  Disciple  Whom 
Jesus  Loved  in  the  last  chapters  of  John.  Read  carefully  the 
passages  in  the  gospels  and  epistles  which  refer  to  him  (John 
1  *";  Luke  5  «"",  8  ",  9  ";  Mark  IS  %  14  ^^f.  j^^^^  g  54.  j^^rk 
10";  Luke  22  «,  9";  John  13",  19  ^^  20  2;  Acts  3  ^^  8^*; 
Gal.  2  ^'  ®).  Why  does  his  life  escape  the  storm  and  stress  of 
Peter's?  Why  does  Jesus  entrust  his  mother  to  John  rather 
than  to  any  other  of  the  disciples.''  When  did  John  grasp  the 
idea  of  complete  surrender.'' 


38  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  III.     The  Apostles  and  the  Will  of  God 

FIFTH  DAY 

Paul  and  the  Will  of  God 

Acts  9  '■". 

What  do  we  know  about  Paul's  career  before  the  spiritual 
crisis  on  the  Damascus  road?  (Acts  8  ^'^.)  What  was  his  at- 
titude toward  the  Christians  ?  Study  carefully  the  passage  for 
today's  study.  How  account  for  the  completeness  of  his  sur- 
render of  self  to  Jesus .''  Through  what  means  was  God's  will 
for  the  immediate  future  revealed  to  him  ?  Where  did  he  work 
out  the  more  complete  details?  (Gal.  1  "'  ^^.)  What  were  some 
of  the  issues  of  this  crisis  in  Paul's  later  life? 

"There  is  the  outline  of  a  wonderful  development  here, 
from  the  young  Jew  who  superintended  Stephen's  martyrdom 
to  the  prophet  of  the  Gentiles,  tender,  strong,  leaning  like  a 
little  child  on  the  mercy  and  help  of  Christ,  meeting  his  own 
martyrdom  with  no  anger  at  human  sin,  no  shrieks  of  fanatic 
disappointment,  but  the  secret  confidence  that  even  in  death  he 
was  being  led  in  triumph  in  Christ." 

Speer:  The  Man  Paul,  page  38. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  99 


Study  ni.     The  Apostles  and  the  Will  of  God 

SIXTH  DAY 

Paul  and  the  Will  of  God  (concluded) 
I  Thess.  4  2-^2 

In  his  letters  Paul  gives  many  practical  expositions  and 
applications  to  different  situations  of  the  principle  of  surrender 
of  self  to  God,  which  had  transformed  his  life.  In  /  Thessa- 
lonians,  the  earliest  of  the  epistles,  he  defines  the  will  of  God 
(4  ^'^^).  In  Galatians  he  sounds  a  protest  against  the  attempt 
to  substitute  moral  living  for  this  life  of  absolute  surrender  of 
self.  In  /  Corinthians  he  demonstrates  that  God's  will  can  be 
done  in  all  professions  (720-24^  10^^),  and  by  all  kinds  of 
men  (1  ^s-si^  7^).  Romans  contains  his  protest  against  the 
attempt  to  substitute  membership  in  an  established  religious 
body  for  the  life  of  absolute  self-surrender  (6  ^^,  8  ^*  '^^,  12  ^). 
In  Colossians  he  demonstrates  the  relation  of  obedience  to  wis- 
dom (1  ®'  ^°,  2  ^).  In  Ephesians  he  restates  again  in  practical 
terms  what  God's  will  is  (4-^ — 5  ^').  In  Philippians  he  as- 
serts that  God  can  use  everything  which  befalls  a  man  who  is 
living  the  surrendered  life — suffering,  opposition,  death — so 
that  he  will  rejoice  and  glory  in  his  sufferings  and  feel  that, 
for  Jesus'  sake,  even  to  die  is  gain  (1  "^,  2  °"^^).  He  also 
demonstrates  in  this  letter  that  a  sure  issue  of  obedience  is  a 
mighty  power  to  achieve  results  (4  ^^). 


30  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  in.     The  Apostles  and  the  Will  of  God 

SEVENTH  DAY— REVIEW 

1.  How  did  John's  acceptance  of  the  principle  of  sur- 
render of  self  to  God  differ  from  that  of  Peter  or  Paul? 
(John  21  2"-".) 

2.  Did  Jesus  ever  force  this  principle  upon  others? 
(Matt.  23  ".) 

3.  How  many  of  the  Apostles  had  made  the  act  of 
surrender  at  the  time  of  the  crucifixion? 

4.  Trace  the  working  of  this  principle  in  the  lives  of 
Thomas  and  Judas.     (Cf.  John  20  ^'-'\) 


STUDY    IV 

The  Principle  of  Surrender  of  Self  Involved  in  Doing  God's  Will  a 
Reasonable  One  and  Fundamental  in  Other  Departments  of  Life 

"Except  a  grain  of  wheat  fall  into  the  earth  and  die,  it  abideth 
by  itself  alone:  but  if  it  die,  it  beareth  much  fruit."      — John  12:24. 

"Know  ye  not,  that  to  whom  ye  present  yourselves  as  servants 
unto  obedience,  his  servants  ye  are  whom  ye  obey;  whether  of  sin 
imto  death,  or  of  obedience  unto  righteousness."  — Bom.  6:16. 

"The  nations  owe  their  existence  to  the  willingness  of  the  best 
and  the  most  unselfish,  the  strongest  and  the  purest,  to  offer  them- 
selves for  sacrifice.  Whatever  humanity  possesses  of  the  highest 
good  has  been  achieved  by  such  men." 

Paulseit:   System  of  Ethics,  page  159. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Peabody.    Jesus  Christ  and  the  Christian  Character,  page  200  S, 
Palmer.    The  Nature  of  Goodness.    Chapter  VI.— "Self-Sacrifice." 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  83 


Study  IV.     The  Principle  of  Surrender  of  Self  Involved  in  Doing 
God's  Will  a  Reasonable  One 

FIRST  DAY 

Self-development  the  Primary  Law  of  Life 

Matt.  25   ^"-3°;  Luke  2". 
Heb.  11  ^'^\ 

James,   William:    Principles  of  Psychology    (1890),  I., 
page  307  ff. 

TvCidi  a-eavTov — "Know  thyself"  (Inscription  at  Delphi). 

"A  knowledge  of  his  own  heart  ....  that  is  the  best 
of  all  keys  to  a  knowledge  of  the  hearts  of  others." 

Plummer:  Expositor's  Bible,  James,  page  359. 

"Self-realization  is  the  primary  law  of  life.  It  is  not> 
selfish  to  cultivate  one's  faculties  or  to  utilize  one's  oppor-i 
tunities.  Faculties  and  opportunities  are  possessed  only  as, 
they  are  developed  and  used,  and  without  cultivation  shrivel, 
and  disappear.  Jesus  himself  teaches  this  truth  with  unusual 
elaboration  in  the  parable  of  the  talents.  The  gifts  of  life, , 
according  to  this  impressive  picture,  increase  in  the  using  ^ 
and  shrink  through  disuse.  To  cultivate  one's  powers  is  to 
multiply  them,  and  from  him  who  fails  to  increase  his  stocki 
is  taken  away  that  which  seemed  his  own." 

Peabody:  Jesus  Christ  and  the  Christian  Character,  pages 
199,  200. 


34  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  IV.     The  Principle  of  Surrender  of  Self  Involved  in  Doing 
God's  Will  a  Reasonable  One 

SECOND  DAY 

Vet  Self-sacrifice  Alone  Satisfies  the  Moral  Demands  of  Life 


I  Cor.  8  12. 13^  9  22;  II  Cor.  11  ^^-^g.  phil.  3 
Mark  8=^*;  Matt.  10  ^^  I6  2*;  Luke  9  '%  14 
John  12  25. 


7-11 


"Instead  of  the  sagacious  maxims  of  self-interest  there 
is  heard  the  call  to  the  heroic,  the  self-forgetting,  the  larger 

good Self-abnegation,  self-effacement,  even  the  scorn 

of  self,  becomes  the  mark  of  positive  morality;  and  the  self- 
considering,  computing,  prudential  spirit  is  a  sign  that  positive 
morality   has   not  yet   begun." 

Peabody:  Jesus  Christ  and  the  Christian  Character,  pages 
201,  202. 

"Self-sacrifice  is  an  everyday  affair.     By  it  we  live.     It 
is  the  very  air  of  our  moral  lungs.     Without  it  society  could 

not  go  on  for  one  hour I  mean  by  self-sacrifice  any 

diminution  of  my  own  possessions,  pleasures  or  powers  in 
order  to  increase  those  of  others  ....  the  greatest  conceiv- 
able sacrifice  is  when  I  give  myself;  when,  that  is,  I  in  some 
way  allow  my  own  powers  to  be  narrowed  in  order  that  those 

of  some  one  else  may  be  enlarged Yet  this  is  what  is 

going  on  all  over  the  country  where  devoted  mother,  gallant 
son,  loyal  husband  are  limiting  their  own  range  of  existence 
for  the  sake  of  broadening  that  of  certain  whom  they  hold 
dear." 

Palmer:  The  Nature  of  Goodness,  pages  I6J1.-I66. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  86 


Study  IV.     The  Principle  of  Surrender  of  Self  Involved  in  Doing 
God's  Will  a  Reasonable  One 

THIRD  DAY 

The   Solution   of  the   Dilemma ;    Full    Self-realization   Possible   Only 
Through  Self-surrender 

Mark  8  ^^  Matt.  6  '^  10  ^\  l6  ".  L^te  9  '^ 

"What,  then,  is  my  duty,  cries  out,  in  grave  perplexity, 
this  life  which  finds  itself  rent  by  opposing  motives — to  de- 
velop myself  or  to  deny  myself ;  to  hear  the  command  of  Jesus 
bidding  me  invest  my  talents  prudently,  or  to  hear  his  other 
command  bidding  me  sell  all  I  have,  take  up  my  cross 
and  follow.''  ....  Jesus  meets  the  issue  with  his  paradox 
of  sacrifice.  There  is,  he  teaches,  no  such  schism  in  life 
between  gain  and  loss,  self-cultivation  and  self-abnegation, 
the  finding  of  life  and  the  losing  of  it.  The  field  of  duty-doing 
is  not  a  battlefield  where  duties  to  one's  self  contend  against 
duties  to  others ;  it  is  a  field  where  human  life  like  other  living 
things  is  growing;  and  growth  by  its  very  nature,  means 
transmission,  expansion,  the  giving  of  the  root  to  the  stalk, 
and  of  the  stalk  to  the  flower — a  loss  which  is  gain  and  a 
death  which  is  life.  In  short,  when  Jesus  announces  the 
paradox  that  to  save  life  is  to  lose  it,  and  that  to  lose  it  is 
to  save  it,  he  is  transferring  to  conduct  the  general  law  which 
the  process  of  Nature  had  disclosed  to  his  observant  eye." 

Peabodv  :  Jesus  Christ  and  the  Christian  Character,  pages 
202,  20S, 


36  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

Study  IV.    The  Principle  of  Surrender  of  Self  Involved  in  Doin^ 
God's  Will  a  Reasonable  One 

FOURTH  DAY 

The  Witness  of  Science  and  of  Nature 
I  Cor.  15  2«;  John  12^*. 

"Science  seems  to  me  to  teach  in  the  highest  and  strong- 
est manner  the  great  truth  which  is  embodied  in  the  Christian 
conception  of  entire  surrender  to  the  will  of  God.  Sit  down 
before  fact  as  a  little  child,  be  prepared  to  give  up  every 
pre-conceived  notion,  follow  humbly  wherever  and  to  whatever 
abysses  nature  leads,  or  you  shall  learn  nothing.  I  have 
only  begun  to  learn  content  and  peace  of  mind  since  I  have 
resolved  at  all  risks  to  do  this." 

Huxley:  Life  and  Letters  of  Huxley  (1900),  Vol.  I, 
page  235. 

"The  same  paradox  is  observed  in  biological  organisms,  in 
physiological  tissues,  in  intellectual  achievements,  even  in 
economic  progress.  Physical  health,  which  seems  to  depend 
on  that  which  the  body  receives,  depends  in  fact  quite  as  much 
on  what  is  exhaled  and  excreted." 

Peabody:  Jesus  Christ  and  the  Christian  Character,  page 
203  ff. 

"The  life  alike  of  the  corn  and  of  the  conscience,  was,  as 
Jesus  saw  it,  a  process  of  development  through  service,  of 
self-realization  through  self-sacrifice.  The  life  that  with- 
held itself  was  checked  and  dwarfed;  the  life  that  yielded 
itself  was  enriched  and  confirmed.  Assimilation  and  elimina- 
tion, receiving  to  give,  dying  to  live — such  was  the  rhythm 
of  nature  which  Jesus  discovered  alike  in  the  fields  of  Galilee 
and  in  the  life  of  men." 

Ibid.,  page  203. 

"Question.  What  is  the  duty  of  man?  Ansrver.  To 
assist  his  fellows,  to  develop  his  own  higher  self,  to  strive 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  37 

towards  good  in  every  way  open  to  his  powers  and  generally  to 
seek  to  know  the  laws  of  nature  and  to  obey  the  will  of  God 
in  whose  service  alone  can  be  found  that  harmonious  exercise 
of  the  faculties  which  is  synonymous  with  perfect  freedom." 
Sir  Oliver  Lodge  :  The  Substance  of  Faith,  page  138. 

In  bridgebuilding,  even  a  weak  girder  or  beam,  if  placed 
so  as  to  bear  its  load  in  conformity  with  the  laws  of  nature, 
will  support  an  immense  weight.  The  strongest  girder,  on 
the  other  hand,  if  set  contrary  to  these  laws,  will  soon  give 
way  beneath  the  pressure. 


38  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

Study  IV.     The  Principle  of  Surrender  of  Self  Involved  in  Doing 
God's  Will  a  Reasonable  One 

FIFTH  DAY 

Tbe  Witness  of  History  and  of  Human  Experience 

[Eccl.  11  \] 

II  Cor.  9^  Mark  10  *3'";  Rev.  7  ""-",  14^3^ 

"The  nations  owe  their  existence  to  the  willingness  of  the 
best  and  the  most  unselfish,  the  strongest  and  the  purest,  to 
offer  themselves  for  sacrifice.  Whatever  humanity  possesses 
of  the  highest  good  has  been  achieved  by  such  men." 

Paulsen:  System  of  Ethics,  page  159. 

"Life  stripped  to  its  essentials  offers  but  two  alternatives 
to  the  man  of  action.  He  may  work  for  himself  alone,  build- 
ing his  little  selfish  walls  across  the  advancing  path  of  civiliza- 
tion and  making  them  stumbling-blocks  in  the  way  of  progress. 
Then,  however  successful  he  may  be,  ultimately  the  stern 
mills  of  the  gods  will  grind  him  and  his  structures  to  dust, 
and  he  and  his  work  will  vanish  from  the  earth.  Or  having 
the  eyes  that  see,  he  may  place  his  effort  parallel  with  the 
eternal  lines  of  force  that  mark  the  purposes  of  God  and 
then  what  he  builds  will  endure." 

Herbert  Knox  Smith:  To  Yale  Alumni  of  Hartford, 
Feb.  8,  1907. 

"He  who  would  understand  a  painting  must  give  himself 

to   it."  RUSKIN. 

"Intellectual  growth  seems  a  matter  of  accumulated 
learning;  but  an  undigested  mass  of  erudition  leaves  one  a 
bookworm  rather  than  a  scholar,  and  productive  expression 
alone  clarifies  and  sifts  the  scholar's  mind.  The  movement 
of  trade  is  on  its  surface  a  mere  scramble  of  self-seeking ;  but 
in  its  total  action  economic  life  is  a  vast  tidal  process  of  pro- 
duction and  distribution,  of  multiplying  by  investing,  of  in- 
crease through  use.  To  hoard  one's  possessions  is  to  lose  their 
increment." 

Peabody:   Jesus  Christ  and  the  Christian  Character,  page 


A  MAN'S  Llf'EWORK  39 


Study  IV.     The  Principle  of  Surrender  of  Self  Involved  in  Doin£ 
God's  Will  a  Reasonable  One 

SIXTH  DAY 

The  Witness  of  the  Life  of  Jesus 
Phil.  2  =  1^ ;  Mark  10  ^^ 

"If  we  estimate  the  greatness  of  a  man  by  the  influence 
which  he  has  exerted  on  mankind,  there  can  be  no  question, 
even  from  the  secular  point  of  view,  that  Christ  is  much  the 
greatest  man  who  has  ever  lived," 

Romanes:  Thoughts  on  Religion,  page  169. 

"Many  followers  of  Jesus  and  many  critics  of  his  teach- 
ing have  conceived  that  the  character  derived  from  him  is  a 
stunted  and  truncated  type  which  flings  itself  away  in  self- 
abandoning  and  self-scorning  altruism.  The  fact  is,  on  the  t 
contrary,  that  the  paradox  of  sacrifice  indicates  the  only  way 
of  deliverance  from  the  stunted  and  truncated  life.  Nothingt 
shuts  in  a  life  and  shuts  out  satisfaction  and  joy  like  the  self', 
considering  temper  and  the  self-centered  aim.  Such  a  life, 
though  it  may  seem  to  itself  self-developing,  is  in  fact  self- 
deceiv^ed.  Instead  of  growing  richer  in  its  resources,  it  finds 
itself  growing  poorer.  The  more  it  cultivates  itself,  the  more 
sterile  it  grows ;  the  more  it  accumulates,  the  less  it  has ;  the 
more  it  saves,  the  more  it  is  lost.  The^  paradox  of  Jesus  is 
the  picture  of  a  character  which  is  enriched  by  spending,  de- 
veloped by  serving,  happier  itself  because  it  makes  a  happier 
world,  finding  itself  in  losing  itself,  discovering  the  unity  of 
the  moral  world,  where  sacrifice  is  growth  and  service  is  free- 
dqna." 

Peabody:  Jesus  Christ  and  the  Christian  Character,  page 
206. 


40  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  IV.     The  Principle  of  Surrender  of  Self  Involved  in  Doing 
God's  Will  a  Reasonable  One 

SEVENTH  DAY— REVIEW 

1.  When  duties  to  self  and  duties  to  others  appear  to  be 
in  conflict  which  shall  we  fulfil? 

2.  Is  a  man's  ability  to  serve  others  proportional  to  his 
physical,  mental  and  spiritual  talents  ? 

3.  Was  Jesus'  life  a  narrow  one? 

4.  Can    a   man    grow   narrow   by    overmuch    service   of 
others  ? 

5.  When  is  a  man  justified  in  turning  from  service  to 
develop  or  conserve  his  own  powers? 


B.    THE  DECISION  TO  DO  GOD'S  WILL 

study  V.  The  Relation  of  the  Act  of  Surrender  of  Self  to 
Other  Religious  Rites  and  Spiritual  Experiences. 

Study  VI.  The  Alternatives  to  Doing  God's  Will  as  a  Life 
Purpose. 

Study  VII.  The  Spiritual  Crisis  Involved  in  Facing  the  Issue 
of  Surrender  of  Self.     Its  Symptoms  and  its  Course. 

Study  VIII.  To  Find  Out  and  to  Do  God's  Will  for  One's  Life 
is  an  Achievement  Possible  for  Any  Man. 

Study  IX.  God's  Will  may  be  Done  in  Any  Honorable  Trade 
or  Profession  Either  at  Home  or  Abroad. 

Study  X.    The  Necessity  for  Absolute  Surrender  of  Self. 


STUDY    V 

The  Relation  of  the  Act  of  Surrender  of  Self  to  Other  Religious  Rites 
and  Spiritual  Experiences 

"Not  every  one  that  saith  unto  me,  Lord,  Lord,  shall  enter  into 
the  kingdom  of  heaven;  but  he  that  doeth  the  will  of  my  Father 
which  is  in  heaven."  — Matt.  7:  SI. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Boiom.    The  Christian  Life,  pp.  89-119. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  45 


Study  V.     The  Relation  of  the  Act  of  Surrender  of  Self  to  Other 
Religious  Rites  and  Spiritual  Experiences 

FIRST  DAY 

Every  Man  Must,  Sooner  or  Later,  Face  the  Issue  of  his  Personal 
Relation  to  God,  and  When  Once  the  Question  is  Raised,  Perfect 
Peace  of  Mind  and  Soul  can  be  Thereafter  Secured,  only  by  the 
Deliberate  Decision  to  do  God's  Will  Unconditionally,  Whenever 
it  shall  be  Clearly  Revealed 

[Ps.  Igp '■'*.] 

Investigation  shows  that  there  are  three  ideas  which 
no  human  beings  savage  or  civilized,  is  without;  the  distinction 
between  right  and  wrong,  the  desire  for  eternal  life  and  the 
conception  of  a  supreme  being  or  God.  The  problem  of  man's 
relation  to  God  is,  therefore,  a  universal  and  eternal  one,  and 
for  the  purpose  of  settling  this  question  our  life  on  this  earth 
seems  to  have  been  given  us  (Acts  17  ^*''  ^').  In  the  Old 
Testament  we  find  many  attempts  of  man  to  justify  himself 
before  God  through  outward  form  of  sacrifice  or  ritual,  and 
through  the  mediation  of  a  priest  (Ps  5l).  But  even  the 
prophets  of  those  days  saw  clearly  that  such  impersonal  and 
external  methods  would  not  suffice  to  bring  peace  (Hosea  6  ®; 
Isaiah  58  ^'^^),  inasmuch  as  religion  is  a  vital  personal  matter, 
"the  life  of  God  in  the  soul  of  man."  What  then  is  this  vital, 
personal  act  of  self-surrender  whereby  the  life  of  God  enters 
the  soul  of  man  (Gal.  2  ==^  II  Cor.  6'^;  John  3%  14^), 
and  which,  being  the  final  settlement  of  the  greatest  life  prob- 
lem, brings  perfect  peace? 


46  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  V.     The  Relation  of  the  Act  of  Surrender  of  Self  to  Other 
Religious  Rites  and  Spiritual  Experiences 

SECOND  DAY 

Is  this  Act  Necessarily  the  Same  Thing  as  the   Decision   to   Live  a 
Moral  Life  ? 

I  Cor.  4  *;  Rom.  3  ^^'  "•  3i^  lo  3;  Eph.  2  «. 
Matt.  19  '^'";  Acts  11  ^%  19  ''^ 

There  are  two  great  facts  in  the  world — sin  and  right- 
eousness. Conversion  is  popularly  regarded  as  the  breaking 
away  from  sin — generally  from  some  one  particular  sin  like 
intemperance,  or  impurity,  or  dishonesty.  With  most  of  us 
life  is  a  series  of  such  breaks. 

In  such  a  break  with  wrong-living  a  man  often  gives  up 
one  particular  sin  to  God  but  he  still  retains  his  own  control 
over  the  rest  of  his  life.  It  is  true  that  some  men — especially 
those  in  middle  life — who  are  converted  from  some  desperate 
sin  which  has  made  them  outcasts,  surrender  themselves  en- 
tirely to  God  when  they  are  converted  and  this  explains  such 
lives  of  power  as  Jerry  McAuley  and  S.  H.  Hadley.  But  it  is 
perfectly  possible  for  a  man  to  have  broken  with  one  of  his 
besetting  sins  and  yet  live  an  unsurrendered  life. 

The  book  of  Galatians  is  a  protest  against  the  attempt 
to  substitute  moral  living  for  the  self-surrendered  life.  Paul 
realizes  the  value  of  morality.  The  struggle  for  it  is  the  first 
step  toward  self-surrender  (Gal.  3  ^*),  but  as  the  writer  of 
Hebrews  urges  we  are  to  pass  on  further  (Heb.  5  i^-^*^  6  ^'  ^). 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  47 

Study  V.     The  Relation  of  the  Act  of  Surrender  of  Self  to  Other 
Religious  Rites  and  Spiritual  Experiences 

THIRD  DAY 

Is  it  Always  the  Same  Thing  as  Such  Rites  of  Confession  as  Baptism,  or 
Uniting  with  the  Church,  or  Partaking  of  the  Communion? 

I  Cor.  13^;  Rom.  8^  (end),  9°;  H  Tim.  3\ 


Mark   7"-^    12^2,33.   j^j^^^    39^  21  2^-^^;   Luke   3\   6 '\ 

J  3  25-27^    18  9-14_ 

It  is  not  alone  necessary  to  break  with  sin — man  must 
lay  hold  on  righteousness.  Through  the  outward  rites  of  con- 
fession, such  as  baptism,  uniting  with  the  church,  and  par- 
taking of  the  Lord's  Supper,  man  is  brought  into  the  fellow- 
ship of  Christians  and  into  the  presence  of  God  (Luke  13  ^^). 
But  all  such  rites  may  be  the  act  of  our  going  into  God's  pres- 
ence, not  of  our  letting  him  come  into  ours.  It  is  one 
thing  to  "eat  and  drink  in  his  presence"  where  we  still  have 
the  say  as  to  the  running  of  things,  and  another  and  very 
different  thing  to  "open  the  door  and  let  him  come  in"  to 
direct  the  feast  (Rev.  3  ^°).  It  is  true  that  many  men  do 
make  the  entire  surrender  when  they  join  the  church  (Gal.  3: 
^^)  ;  there  are  others  who  yield  to  God  when  very  young, 
through  the  mediation  of  a  mother's  Christian  nurture;  others 
still  at  the  first  communion  or  even  in  baptism.  This  explains 
such  lives  of  power  as  Drummond  and  Brooks  which  seem 
to  have  laid  hold  on  God  with  no  cataclysmic  break  from  sin. 
But  it  is  perfectly  possible  for  a  man  to  embrace  the  forms 
of  righteousness  and  yet  never  have  given  God  complete  con- 
trol of  his  life.  Furthermore  it  is  conceivable  that  a  man,  as 
for  instance  in  pioneer  country,  without  ojiportunity  for  public 
confession  such  as  uniting  with  the  church,  might  be  doing 
God's  will  perfectly  outside  the  church.  A  man  who  joins 
a  rival  church  to  spite  his  opponent  or  for  self-interest  is  cer- 
tainly not  doing  God's  will.  Hence,  here  again,  the  attempt 
to  make  the  act  of  self-surrender  synonymous  with  public 
confession  is  not  inclusive  enough. 


48  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

Study  V.     The  Relation  of  the  Act  of  Surrender  of  Self  to  Other 
Religious  Rites  and  Spiritual  Experiences 

FOURTH  DAY 

Is  it  Necessarily  the  Same  Thing  as  the  Decision  to  Live  a  Life  of 
Philanthropy,  Giving  Money  and  Time  for  the  Uplifting  of  Man- 
kind P 

I  Cor.  13  3  (first  half)  ;  Matt.  7  "'  ";  Luke  10  ^«-". 
Acts  S'"'^'^;  Heb.  10  \ 

The  great  commandment  enjoins  not  only  love  to  God 
but  also  love  to  man  (Mark  12  ^s-si-)^  Through  the  service 
of  humanity,  by  gifts  of  money  and  by  the  expenditure  of 
talents  and  time  for  philanthropic  ends,  we  fulfil  at  least  one 
half  of  the  great  law  of  love.  In  the  service  of  man  we  may 
find  God.  True  we  may,  but  do  we  always.''  "If  I  bestow  all 
my  goods  to  feed  the  poor  and  have  not  love,  it  profiteth  me 
nothing." 

What  is  this  love?  It  is  no  human  trait,  but  the  actual 
Spirit  of  God  moving  in  the  heart  of  man,  inspiring  him  to 
help  others  and  answering  unerringly  that  most  difficult  of 
all  questions — when  and  how  to  help.  There  is  no  sadder  or 
more  disquieting  sight  than  an  unadapted  or  misdirected  gift 
or  deed  of  philanthropy — huge  palatial  workingmen's  pleas- 
ure houses,  erected  by  well-meaning  employers,  which  stand 
idle  because  the  workingmen  will  not  frequent  them — be- 
quests that  are  a  burden  to  a  community  rather  than  a  foun- 
dation of  helpfulness  (cf.  Peabody,  Jesus  Christ  and  the  So- 
cial Question,  page  339). 

It  is  true  that  many  men  do  make  their  entire  surrender 
to  God  through  some  great  gift  or  act  of  service  (cf.  the 
possibility  which  lay  before  the  rich  young  ruler.  Matt.  19 
^®"2^),  but  it  is  perfectly  possible  for  a  man  to  give  away  all  his 
property  and  devote  all  his  time  to  philanthropic  work  and 
yet  never  have  opened  his  heart  to  let  the  inspiring  and  guid- 
ing force — Love,  God — come  in.  Furthermore,  if  the  doing 
of  God's  will  embraces  merely  the  making  of  great  gifts,  a 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK 


man  without  money  or  intellectual  talents  or  physical  health 
could  not  do  God's  will.  Hence,  again,  the  attempt  to  make 
the  act  of  self-surrender  synonymous  with  philanthropy  is 
not  inclusive  enough. 


Study  V.     The  Relation  of  the  Act  of  Surrender  of  Self  to  Other 
Religious  Rites  and  Spiritual  Experiences 

FIFTH  DAY 

Is  it  Always  the  same  Thing  as  "  Volunteering" — the  Consecration  of 
One's  Life  to  Foreign  Missionary  Service? 

I  Cor.  13  3  (second  half). 

Jesus'  last  command  was  that  the  gospel  should  be 
preached  to  every  nation.  There  is  no  more  apparent  form  of 
consecration  or  self-sacrifice  than  Foreign  Missionary  service. 
Yet  some  lives  of  missionaries  might  be  cited  which  have  been 
utter  failures,  both  in  achievement  and  in  their  moral  re- 
sults. It  is  true  that  it  is  possible  for  any  man  to  make  the 
complete  surrender  to  God  when  he  makes  the  decision  to 
"go  to  the  foreign  field  if  God  permits;"  he  may  do  so  when 
he  decides  to  live  his  life  in  a  particular  place  in  response  to 
a  particular  need;  but  it  should  always  be  distinctly  pointed 
out  that  this  latter  decision,  alone,  in  itself  is  not  a  complete 
surrender  of  a  man's  whole  self  to  God — his  pride,  his  beset- 
ting sin,  his  laziness,  his  unfilial  attitude  toward  objecting 
parents.  Furthermore,  the  act  of  complete  self-surrender 
must  obviously  also  include  the  willingness  not  to  be  a  mis- 
sionary but  a  ditch-digger  if  God  so  wills,  for  God's  will  is  to 
be  done  in  business,  teaching,  law  and  medicine  at  home  justi 
as  much  as  abroad.  For  one,  therefore,  to  regard  the  act  of 
self-surrender  as  synonymous  with  "volunteering"  is  again 
not  inclusive  enough  in  that  it  confuses  an  act  which  should  be 
the  mainspring  of  every  occupation  and  profession  at  home  or 
abroad  with  the  act  which  decides  the  geographical  location  of 
one's  profession. 


50  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

Study  V.     The  Relation  of  the  Act  of  Surrender  of  Self  to  Other 
Religious  Rites  and  Spiritual  Experiences 

SIXTH  DAY 

The  Act  of  Self-surrender 

II  Cor.  8  ^  Matt.  11  ^s.  29.  Heb.  11  ^'  «;  Rev.  3  -°;  John 

1  ^^  5  *°. 

The  act  of  self-surrender  is  a  definite,  conscious,  personal 
compact  between  a  man  and  God  alone,  entirely  independent 
of  all  outward  religious  rites,  forms  or  services,  and  for 
which  no  outward  form,  rite  or  sacrifice  can  be  substituted. 
Man  voluntarily  gives  God  absolute  possession  of  his  life 
and  God  comes  in.  This  act  is  often  coincident  with  such 
outward  manifestations  of  spiritual  experiences  as  conver- 
sion, baptism,  uniting  with  the  church  or  volunteering,  but  it 
need  not  be;  and  it  is  perfectly  possible  for  a  man  to  enter 
into  any  or  all  of  the  above  states  without  surrender  to  the  will 
of  God  at  all.  Right  living,  public  confession  and  ceaseless  ser- 
vice are  the  subsequent  issues  of  a  decision  to  do  God's  will 
not  the  substitutes  for  it,  and  without  the  previous  energizing 
and  life-giving  impetus  within  of  a  decision  to  do  God's  will 
they  are  merely  an  artificial  and  laborious  human  manufacture 
and  not  a  healthy,  spontaneous,  and  continuous  natural 
growth. 

"One  man  will  tell  you  that  the  end  of  life  is  to  be  true; 
another  will  tell  you  that  it  is  to  deny  self;  another  will  say 
it  is  to  keep  the  Ten  Commandments ;  a  fourth  will  point  you 
to  the  Beatitudes.  One  will  tell  you  it  is  to  do  good,  another 
that  it  is  to  get  good,  another  that  it  is  to  be  good.  But 
the  end  of  life  is  none  of  these  things.  It  is  more  than  all 
and  it  includes  them  all.  The  end  of  life  is  not  to  deny  self, 
nor  to  be  true,  nor  to  keep  the  Ten  Commandments — [it  is] 
simply  to  do  God's  will.  It  is  not  to  get  good,  nor  be  good, 
nor  even  to  do  good — [it  is]  just  what  God  wills,  whether 
that  be  working  or  waiting,  or  winning  or  losing,  or  suffer- 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  51 

ing  or  recovering,  or  living  or  dying It  is  not  to  be 

happy  or  to  be  successful  or  famous,  or  to  do  the  best  we  can 
and  get  on  honestly  in  the  world.     It  is  something  far  higher 

than  this,  to  do  God's  will We  do  not  mean.  Are  we 

doing  God's  work? — preaching  or  teaching  or  collecting 
money — but  God's  will.  A  man  may  think  he  is  doing  God's 
work  when  he  is  not  even  doing  God's  will.  And  a  man  may  be 
doing  God's  work  and  God's  will  quite  as  much  by  hewing 
stones  or  sweeping  streets  as  by  preaching  or  praying.  So 
the  question  means  just  this — Are  we  working  out  our  com- 
mon everyday  life  on  the  great  lines  of  God's  will.'*  This  is 
different  from  the  world's  model  life — 'I  come  to  push  my 
way' — this  is  the  world's  idea  of  it.     'Not  my  way,  not  my 

will  but  thine  be  done' — this  is  the  Christian's 'Thy 

will  be  done' — now  mark  the  emphasis  on  done.  He 
prays  that  God's  will  may  be  done.  It  is  not  that  God's 
will  may  be  borne,  endured,  put  up  with.     There  is  activity 

in  his  prayer.     It  is  not  mere  resignation The  ideal 

man  ....  does  not  want  a  bed  of  roses  or  his  pathway 
strewn  with  flowers.  He  wants  to  do  God's  will.  He  does 
not  want  health  or  wealth,  nor  does  he  covet  sickness  or 
poverty — just  what  God  sends.  He  does  not  want  success — 
even  success  in  winning  souls — or  want  of  success.  What  God 
wills  for  him,  that  is  all.  He  does  not  want  to  prosper  in 
business  or  to  keep  barely  struggling  on.  God  knows  what  is 
best.  He  does  not  want  his  friends  to  live,  himself  to  live  or 
die.  God's  will  be  done !  The  currents  of  his  life  flow  far 
deeper  than  the  circumstance  of  things.  There  is  a  deeper 
principle  in  it  than  to  live  to  gratify  himself.  And  so  he 
simply  asks  that  in  the  ordinary  round  of  his  daily  life  there 
may  be  no  desire  of  his  heart  more  deep,  more  vivid,  more 
absorbingly  present  than  this,  'Thy  will  be  done.'  " 

Drummond:  The  Ideal  Life,  pages  229-233  {passim). 


$S  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  V.     The  Relation  of  the  Act  of  Surrender  of  Self  to  Other 
Religious  Rites  and  Spiritual  Experiences 

SEVENTH  DAY— REVIEW 

1.  Is  the  act  of  self-surrender  a  necessary,  or  merely 
a  higher  spiritual  experience? 

2.  Are  only  those  who  do  God's  will  saved?    (Matt.  7  ^^) 

3.  Need  a  person  lead  a  moral  life  to  do  God's  will? 

4.  Need  a  person  join  the  church  to  do  God's  will? 

5.  Need  a  person  be  baptized  to  do  God's  will? 

6.  Need  a  person  partake  of  communion  to  do  God's 
will? 

7.  Which  of  these  rites  did  Jesus  engage  in? 

8.  In  how  far  were  the  Anabaptists  of  Luther's  day 
right  in  their  doctrine?     What  was  their  error? 

9.  Has  the  act  of  making  a  public  confession  in  a  revival 
meeting  a  relation  to  God's  will?  Is  public  confession 
necessary?  Should  it  come  before  or  after  surrender  to 
God's  will  in  one's  own  closet? 

10.  Study  the  following  deed  of  consecration  in  the  light 
of  the  week's  study: 

"This  sixteenth  day  of  November,  1895,  I,  Hugh  McA. 
Beaver,  do  of  my  own  free  will,  give  myself,  all  that  I  am 
and  have,  entirely,  unreservedly,  and  unqualifiedly  to  him, 
whom  having  not  seen  I  love,  on  whom,  though  now  I  see  him 
not,  I  believe.  Bought  with  a  price,  I  give  myself  to  him 
who  at  the  cost  of  his  own  blood,  purchased  me.  Now  com- 
mitting myself  to  him  who  is  able  to  guard  me  from  stumbling. 

I  trust  myself  to  him,  for  all  things  to  be  used  as  he 

shall  see  fit  where  he  shall  see  fit.  Sealed  by  the  Holy  Spirit, 
filled  with  the  peace  of  God  that  passeth  understanding,  to 
him  be  all  glory,  world  without  end.     Amen." 

Speer:  a  Memorial  of  a  True  Life,  page  1S6. 


STUDY    VI 

The  Alternatives  to  Doing  God's  Will  as  a  Life  Purpose 

"But  he  said  unto  him,  A  certain  man  made  a  great  supper;  and 
he  bade  many:  and  he  sent  forth  his  servant  at  supper  time  to  say 
to  them  that  were  bidden,  Come;  for  all  things  are  now  ready.  And 
they  all  with  one  consent  began  to  make  excuse.  The  first  said  unto 
him,  I  have  bought  a  field  and  I  must  needs  go  out  and  see  it:  I 
pray  thee  have  me  excused.  And  another  said,  I  have  bought  five 
yoke  of  oxen,  and  I  go  to  prove  them:  I  pray  thee  have  me  excused. 
And  another  said,  I  have  married  a  wife  and  therefore  I  cannot 
come."  — Luke  U:  16-20. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Newman,  J.  H.    Plain  and  Parochial  Sermons.   Vol.  II.,  No.  1.— 
"The  World's  Benefactors." 

Moody,  D.  L.    Select  Sermons.    "Excuses." 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  55 

Study  VI.     The  Alternatives  to  Doing  God's  Will  as  a  Life  Purpose 

FIRST  DAY 

God  or  Mammon.  Enlistment  with  One  or  the  Other  Inevitable. 
There  is  no  Middle  Course.  Refusal  to  Enlist  with  God  is 
Enlistment  with  Mammon 

Gal.  1  '';  Rom.  6  ''-'',  8  '''  ^^  Col.  3  ";  II  Tim.  3  \ 
Matt.  6"-==*;  Luke  11  ";  Rev.  3''''';  II  Peter  2  ^«. 

Many  men  object  to  the  word  "surrender"  in  connection 
with  the  decision  to  do  God's  will  on  the  ground  that  it 
characterizes  us  as  rebels  against  God,  and  that  such  an  act 
must  take  away  all  personal  liberty.  That  this  is  in  fact 
not  so  will  be  demonstrated  later.  (Study  VII — Sixth  Day.) 
But  even  if  it  were  could  we  object?  Are  we  in  a  position 
to  demand  rights  of  God  or  do  we  not  rather,  from  the  very 
start,  owe  him  obligations?  (Rom.  9'^"^';  Luke  17  ^-'^  cf. 
also  Isaiah  45  ^  64  ^) 

God's  wonderful  love  and  regard  for  man's  personality 
is  nowhere  more  apparent  than  in  the  fact  that,  in  spite  of 
our  obvious  obligations  to  him,  he  has  granted  to  every  one  of 
us  absolute  liberty  to  accept  or  reject  his  service.  In  some 
cases  perhaps  the  term  "enlistment"  is  better  than  "surren- 
der." Paul  uses  the  phrase  "adoption  as  sons"  (Gal.  4^).  A 
man  like  Jesus,  who  had  not  previously  been  in  the  service 
of  Mammon,  "surrenders"  himself  when  he  enters  God's 
service  in  the  same  sense  in  which  a  soldier  voluntarily  "sur- 
renders" or  "consecrates"  his  all  to  the  nation  when  he 
enlists;  or  as  husband  and  wife  "surrender"  or  "devote"  or 
"present"  themselves  to  each  other  in  the  marriage  vow 
(Rom.  6'^). 

If  however  a  man  has  been  in  the  enemy's  service  before 
he  enters  the  service  of  God — this  was  the  case  with  Paul 
(Gal.  1  ^^;  Acts  22""^°)  and  is  probably  the  case  with  most 
of  us — he  needs  in  a  more  truly  literal  sense  to  surrender 
himself  and  take  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  new  ruler  before 


56  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

he  can  be  counted  as  a  loyal  subject  in  the  free  service  of 
God  (Rom.  5^°,  6^«-"). 

It  is  obvious  that  man  must  be  in  the  service  of  either 
God  or  Mammon.  Does  the  service  of  Mammon — by  which 
Jesus  must  mean  the  alternatives  to  doing  God's  will  as  a 
life  purpose — offer  more  freedom  and  liberty  than  that  of 
God.?    (Rom,  6^«.) 


A  MAN'S  LIFE  WORK  67 


Study  VI.     The  Alternatives  to  Doing  God's  Will  as  a  Life  Purpose 

SECOND  DAY 

The  Service  of  Mammon — Three  Possible  Aspects 

Matt.  4  ^-1^;  Luke  14  ^^-zo.  j  j^h^^  ^  i«. 

"Ye  cannot  serve  God  and  Mammon."  By  "Mammon" 
Jesus  must  mean  whatever  other  possible  alternatives  offer 
themselves  as  life  purposes  outside  of  complete  surrender  to  the 
will  of  God.  The  service  of  Mammon  has  at  least  three 
different  aspects.  Jesus  faced  and  rejected  all  three  in  the 
temptation  and  afterwards  discussed  the  same  three  in  the 
parable  of  the  rejected  invitations.*  If  a  man  refuses  to  live 
the  life  surrendered  to  the  will  of  God  he  has  three  other 
possible  alternatives,  to  the  bondage  (Rom.  6^^;  II  Tim. 
2  2«;  John  8  3^;  II  Peter  2  '^)  of  one  or  the  other  of  which  he 
may  devote  his  life — (1)  the  life  surrendered  to  self-indul- 
gence; (2)  the  life  surrendered  to  wealth-getting;  (3)  the  life 
surrendered  to  fame-seeking,  f 

*In  this  parable  the  owner  of  the  oxen  is  seeking:  fame  rather  than  wealth.  It 
is  the  number— five  yoke— on  which  he  lays  emphasis. 

tit  is  an  interesting  confirmation  of  the  depth  and  soundness  of  Jesus'  obser- 
vations regarding:  human  nature  that  these  alternatives  of  his  parable  were  the 
identical  three  presented  to  Paris  by  the  Goddesses  Aphrodite.  Athena  and  Hera  in 
the  old  Greek  myth  connected  with  the  Trojan  war.  Aphrodite  offered  self-indul- 
Bence,  Athena  fame  in  war,  Hera  the  wealth  of  empire. 


58  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

Study  VL     The  Alternatives  to  Doing  God's  Will  as  a  Life  Purpose 

THIRD  DAY 

The  Life  Surrendered  to  Self-indulgence 

Rom.  8  «-«;  Matt.  4  2.  3.  *;  Luke  14  ^\ 

Read  also  carefully  Matt.  24  ''-'';  Luke  17  ''■'',  21  '". 

Many  men  who  possess  the  capacity  to  attain  neither 
fame  nor  wealth  and  others  who,  though  possessing  the 
capacity,  are  not  attracted  by  these  things,  surrender  their 
lives  to  some  form  of  self-indulgence.  Let  us  begin  with 
one  of  the  commonest  which  although  not  generally  regarded 
as  such  Jesus  recognized  (Matt.  4  *)  and  often  warned  men 
against.  "Every  one  can  recall  individuals  who  are  so  tied 
to  their  three  good  meals  a  day  that  they  make  themselves 
and  everyone  else  miserable  the  moment  their  habits  are 
broken  into  by  circumstances"  {Griggs,  Moral  Education, 
page  150).  Of  such  Paul  speaks  when  he  mentions 
those  "whose  God  is  their  belly"  (Rom.  I6  ^^  Phil.  3  ^«). 
A  man  may  be  a  slave  to  self-indulgence  in  any  one  of  many 
other  forms— sleep,  drinking,  smoking,  gambling,  the  theatre, 
sport,  dress,  or,  as  was  the  case  in  the  parable  of  the  rejected 
invitations,  in  subtler  forms  which  concern  domestic  life. 

Mark  Antony  might  have  been  the  ruler  of  the  world 
had  he  not  surrendered  himself  to  self-indulgence.  Surely 
there  is  no  more  pitiable  sight  than  a  man  created  by  God  to 
be  a  master  who  is  a  slave  of  habit.  How  free  Jesus  was 
from  slavery  to  any  form  of  appetite  or  artificial 
stimulant  (Mark  15  ^^  John  4>^'-^')  and  yet  how  calm  and 
effective  was  his  life  without  it!  (Mark  1  ^^-'^  4  ^'''K)  Paul 
learned  from  Jesus  the  true  place  of  self-indulgence  (I  Cor. 
6  ",  8  «,  9  ";  Rom.  13  "-",  14  '';  Col.  2  =^"-"). 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  59 


Study  VI.     The  Alternatives  to  Doing  God's  Will  as  a  Life  Purpose 

FOURTH  DAY 

The  Life  Surrendered  to  Wealth-getting 

Matt.  4«-";  Luke  14>'\ 

Read  also  carefully  1  Tim.  6  ^-''''  ";  Mark  10  "-3^;  Matt. 
6  ^«-",  19  ''■'';  Luke  12  ^^-si;  James  5  ^-'^. 

Though  free  from  the  slavery  of  self-indulgence  a  man 
is  often  tempted  to  yield  his  life  to  selfish  acquisition.  He 
buys  a  field  and  he  must  needs  go  and  see  it^  no  matter  what 
are  the  calls  of  home  or  of  citizenship  or  of  church.  He 
makes  the  exchange^  which  Jesus  refused,  of  a  surrender  of 
principle  for  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world.  The  slavery  of 
such  a  life,  whether  it  concerns  itself  with  the  amassing  of 
money  and  of  property,  or  of  other  forms  of  wealth,  such  as 
learning  and  culture,  needs  no  special  demonstration.  The 
city  and  the  university  furnish  plenty  of  examples  of  learn- 
ing-hoarding as  well  as  money-hoarding  misers.  Are  riches 
essential  to,  and  productive  of,  happiness.''  (Matt.  19^^; 
Phil.  4^^.)  Do  they  enslave  or  free  their  possessor.''  (Rev. 
8  "•  ".) 


60  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  VL     The  Alternatives  to  Doin^  God's  "Will  as  a  Life  Purpose 

FIFTH  DAY 

The  Life  Surrendered  to  Fame-seeking 

Matt.  4'-'^;  Luke  14  ^^ 

Read  also  carefully  Mark  933-35^  10  ^s-^.  j^^^  SS^*-^"; 
John  5*%  12  *^ 

Milton  characterizes  the  desire  to  attain  fame  as  "that 
last  infirmity  of  noble  minds."  It  masters  men  who  are  slaves 
neither  to  self-indulgence  nor  to  the  passion  for  wealth.  It 
is  perhaps  the  subtlest  of  all  the  three  alternatives  to  doing 
God's  will  as  a  life  purpose.  Many  a  religious  worker  who 
has  completely  mastered  his  passions  and  appetites,  and  is 
willing  to  work  for  a  mere  pittance,  falls  a  victim  to  the 
ambition  for  leadership  in  his  special  field  of  work.  To 
receive  the  applause  of  men,  to  see  one's  name  in  the  news- 
paper, to  be  known  as  the  possessor  not  of  one  but  of  five 
yoke  of  oxen,  these  are  the  enslaving  life  purposes  of  many 
men. 

DeTocqueville  says  of  Napoleon  that  he  attained  to  the 
greatest  height  that  any  man  ever  can  attain  without  virtue. 
Napoleon's  sole  ideal  was  his  own  fame.  What  might 
not  his  genius  have  accomplished  for  the  world,  had  it  not 
been  enslaved  to  fame-seeking?  Note  how  free  Jesus  was 
from  the  craving  for  notoriety  (Phil.  2^'^^;  Mark  7'**; 
Luke  5^*'^®;  John  6^^)  and  yet  how  truly  a  leader  among 
men.  Who  was  the  slave  and  who  was  the  master  as  we  study 
the  careers  of  Napoleon  and  Jesus.'' 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  61 


Study  VI.     The  Alternatives  to  Doing  God's  Will  as  a  Life  Purpose 

SIXTH  DAY 

Pleasure,  Wealth  and  Fame  are  not  Wrong  in  Themselves,  but  They 
must  be  Our  Servants  not  Our  Masters 

I  Cor.  6^2.  j^iatt   6  21,  33_ 

Read  also  carefully  II  Cor.  9^"";  Mark  4  ^%  10".  2=; 
Matt.  19'';  Luke  18 -^'^O;  [Psalm  1  *]. 

"Seek  ye  first  his  kingdom  and  his  righteousness 
and  all  these  things  shall  be  added  unto  you."  In  this  verse 
Jesus  is  speaking  of  the  temporal  pleasures  of  life.  Only 
the  life  surrendered  to  God  which  seeks  first  his  kingdom 
is  the  free  and  happy  life  (see  a  fine  passage  on  the  joy  fulness 
of  Jesus  in  Peahody,  Jesus  Christ  and  the  Christian  Character, 
page  47  ff). 

When  a  man  surrenders  his  life  to  any  one  of  the  three 
alternatives  he  becomes  a  slave;  but  when  he  surrenders  to 
God  we  have  the  resulting  paradox  that  by  the  act  he  becomes 
absolutely  free  and  a  master  of  pleasure,  wealth  and  fame; 
because  God  is  love,  and  love  is  freedom  (Rom.  8  1*-^^^  I  John 


63  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  VL     The  Alternatives  to  Doing  God's  Will  as  a  Life  Purpose 

SEVENTH  DAY— REVIEW 

1.  Does  Matt.  6:^^  hold  out  a  selfish  motive  for  the 
service  of  God?  Should  we  serve  to  obtain  a  reward?  (Cf. 
James  4  ";  Heb.  11  ^-^^;  I  Peter  3  «'  ^°-^-.) 

2.  Should  godliness  ever  be  allowed  to  be  a  way  of  gain? 
(I  Tim.  6  ^  cf.  Mark  9  ^',  10  ^s-^i.) 

3.  In  how  far  is  it  true  that  the  good  are  prosperous  ? 

4.  "Be  good  and  you  will  be  great."     Is  this  true? 

5.  What  do  Jesus  and  the  Apostles  mean  by  the  terms 
wealth  and  riches? 


STUDY    VTI 

The  Spiritual  Crisis  Involved  in  Facing  the  Issue  of  Surrender  of  Self 
— Its  Symptoms  and  its  Course 

"And  straightway  the  Spirit  driveth  him  forth  into  the  wilder- 
ness.   And  he  was  in  the  wilderness  forty  days  tempted  of  Satan." 

—Mark  1 :  12, 13. 

"The  gospel  of  the  kingdom  of  God  is  preached,  and  every  man 
entereth  violently  into  it."  — Luke  16:1G. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

"Cases"  of  this  Spiritual  Crisis 

Jeaus  Christ.     Matt.  3:13 — 4:11. 

The  Rich  Young  Ruler.    Luke  18: 18-23. 

Paul.    Gal.  1: 13-17;  Acts  26: 1-19. 

Bushnell,  Horace,  Life  and  Letters  of  Horace  Bushnell 
{Cheney),  pages  53-60. 

Robertson,  F.  W.  Life  and  Letters  of  F.  W.  Robertson 
(Brooke),  Vol.  I.,  pages  109  and  110. 

(N.  B.  There  are  several  editions  of  this  book  and  the  pages  do 
not  agree.  The  passage  in  question  is  in  the  account  of  his  wander- 
ings in  the  Tyrol.) 

Kingsley,  Charles.  His  Letters  and  Memories  of  His  Life 
{Mrs.  Kingsley),  chapter  HI. 

Beaver,  Htigh.  A  Memorial  of  a  True  Life  (Speer),  pages  136, 
137. 

Brooks,  Phillips.  Life  of  Phillips  Brooks  (Allen),  pages  89, 
90,  96,  97,  120,  121,  140. 

Drummond,  Henry.  The  last  four  chapters  of  the  "Ideal  Life" 
are  his  own  experiences  told  impersonally.  See  G.  A.  Smith's  Life  for 
the  proof  of  this. 

Little,  Frances.    The  Lady  of  the  Decoration. 

In  selecting  the  above  cases  from  the  large  number  which  history 
and  literature  afford,  I  have  chosen  what  might  be  termed  "pure" 
cases.  I  have  purposely  avoided  two  classes:  (1)  Those  in  which  this 
spiritual  crisis  which  accompanies  the  act  of  complete  self-surrender 
to  God  is  closely  connected  with  a  break  from  positive  sin  (cf, 
Augustine,  Bunyan,  and  numerous  instances  cited  in  the  discussions 
of  Starbuck,  Coe  and  James);  and  (2)  those  in  which  it  is  associated 
with  a  decision  to  enter  Foreign  Missionary  Service  (which  would 
include  practically  the  whole  range  of  missionary  biography). 

I  have  done  this  deliberately,  in  an  attempt  to  demonstrate  that 
a  personal,  conscious  surrender  of  self  to  God, — involving  beforehand 
a  frank  consideration  and  recognition  of  certain  temporary  ad- 
vantages which  self-indulgence,  self-seeking  and  wealth-amassing 
have  to  offer  but  culminating  in  their  deliberate  renunciation  in  the 
face  of  these  advantages, — is  the  normal  preparation  for  all  lives  of 
power.    I  would  not  do  injustice  to  gradual  consecration,  but  would 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  65 

raise  the  question  whether  there  is  not  a  positive  loss  to  the  world  if 
a  man  allows  his  decision  as  to  his  attitude  toward  these  matters 
to  hang  fire  for  many  years.  This  decision  as  to  attitude — one's 
working  basis  for  life — is  an  entirely  distinct  thing  from  breaking 
with  sins  which  have  once  fastened  themselves  upon  one.  Jesus  had 
no  cataclysmic  break  with  sin;  but  he  had  a  cataclysmic  decision  in 
regard  to  his  attitude  toward  it.  A  sudden  break  with  sin  should 
be  the  abnormal  thing;  men  ought  to  be  born  into,  and  grow  into 
righteousness.  But  I  fail  to  see  how  most  human  freewill  agents 
can  lay  their  life  plans  with  two  possibilities  before  them,  reject 
the  alluring  alternative,  and  definitely  enlist  the  forces  of  righteous- 
ness on  their  side,  without  being  aware  of  it.  If  a  man  thinks  he 
has  already  arrived  at  this  state  of  absolute  surrender  of  self 
to  God's  will  by  what  he  terms  the  process  of  gradual  consecration 
why  should  he  then  object  to  sealing  it  with  a  definite,  personal 
compact?  Was  not  that  precisely  the  trouble  with  the  rich  young 
ruler? 


66  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  VII.     The  Spiritual  Crisis  Involved  in  Facing  the  Issue  of 
Surrender  of  Self 

FIRST  DAY 

The  Facing  of  the  Problem  of  Self-surrender — to  do  God's  Will  with- 
out Reservation — the  Great  Soul  Crisis  in  most  Lives  of  Spiritual 
Power 

Matt.  4  \ 

"  Once  to  every  man  and  nation 
Comes  the  moment  to  decide 
In  the   strife   of  truth   with    falsehood, 
For  the  good  or  evil  side." 

Lowell;  The  Present  Crisis. 

Wherever  we  have  the  complete  biography  of  the  great 
leaders  of  Christian  civilization,  we  find  that  most  of  their 
lives  show  a  marked  resemblance  in  the  steps  of  the  spiritual 
crisis  through  which  they  passed  before  entering  upon  their 
lives  of  power.  Beginning  with  Jesus  and  Paul  and  passing 
down  through  the  centuries  we  find  the  same  successive  stages 
so  clearly  marked  in  each  case  as  to  establish  a  general  law  of 
the  process  of  self-surrender.  Inasmuch  as  Jesus  went 
through  the  same  crisis  in  all  its  aspects  at  the  beginning  of 
his  career,  we  can  safely  assume  that  not  only  the  rebellious 
sinner  but  most  men  who  would  attain  to  a  life  of  spiritual 
power  must  have  a  similar  struggle;  for  as  Pascal  said,  "It 
is  the  lot  of  every  Christian  to  have  those  things  happen  to 
him  which  happened  to  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  Whether, 
then,  they  enlist  with  or  surrender  to  God,  few  who  would  be 
true  leaders  of  men  can  expect  to  escape  this  experience. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  «T 


Study  VII.     The  Spiritual  Crisis  Involved  in  Pacing  the  Issue  of 
Surrender  of  Self 

SECOND  DAY 

The    Decision    is    Preceded    by   a    Period    of    Lonely    Struggle    and 
Uncertainty 

Matt,  4  ^'  2 ;  Gal.  1  ""^^ 

Jesus:  "In  the  wilderness"  (Luke  4^;  Matt.  4^;  Mark 
1  ^^)  "fasted  forty  days  and  forty  nights." 

Paul:  "Straightway  I  communed  not  with  flesh  and 
blood  ....  but  I  went  away  into  Arabia"  (Gal.  1  ^^'  ^^). 

Charles  Kingsley :    "I  have  been  for  the  last  hour  on  the 
seashore  not  dreaming  but  thinking  deeply  and  strongly." 
Horace  Bushnell:   Loneliness  (see  Life,  pp.  53-60). 
F.  W.  Robertson:    Loneliness  (see  Life,  pp.  109,  110). 
Hugh  Beaver:  (See  Life,  pages  136,  137). 
Frances  Little:  The  Lady  of  the  Decoration,  pp.  209-211. 
Macdonald:  Robert  Falconer,  Chap.  LL,  "In  the  Desert." 


68  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  VIL     The  Spiritual  Crisis  Involved  in  Facing  the  Issue  of 
Surrender  of  Self 

THIRD  DAY 

The  Various  Alternatives  to  Doing  God's  Will  Present  Themselves 
with  Unwonted  Attractiveness  and  There  is  Often  a  Feeling  of 
Great  Repulsion  and  Obstinacy  toward  Everything  Christian 

Matt.  4  3'  =•  8.  9;  Acts  26  ^;  Rom.  7  ''"',  9  '"'  ''• 

Jesus:   "Being  tempted  of  the  devil"  (Matt.  4  ^). 

Paul:  "I  persecuted  the  church  of  God  and  made  havoc 
of  it."  Gal.  1  ^^'  ^*.  (Paul  has  left  no  detailed  record  of  his 
soul  struggle  during  the  lonely  period  in  Arabia.  Perhaps 
Titus  3  ^  is  an  echo  of  it.) 

Horace  Bushnell:   Fascination  for  law  (see  Life). 
F.  TV.  Robertson:    Repugnance  for  theology  (see  Life); 
so  also  Phillips  Brooks. 

"I  fit  into  this  life  out  here  like  a  square  peg  in  a  round 
hole.  I  am  not  consecrated^  I  was  never  called  to  the  foreign 
field,  I  love  the  world  and  the  flesh  even  if  I  don't  care 
especially  for  the  devil,  I  don't  believe  the  Lord  makes  the 
cook  steal  so  I  may  be  more  patient,  and  I  don't  pray  for 
wisdom  in  selecting  a  new  pair  of  shoes." 

Frances  Little  :  The  Lady  of  the  Decoration,  page  lJf.7. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  69 


Study  Vn.     The  Spiritual  Crisis  Involved  in  Facing  the  Issue  of 
Surrender  of  Self 

FOURTH  DAY 

The  Final  Act  of  Surrender  or  Enlistment  is  a  Definite  Conscious  Act 
of  Ethical  Decision  Between  the  Man  and  God  Personally,  Made 
without  Reservation,  in  the  Path,  not  of  Inclination  but  of  Duty; 
and  is  Generally  Preceded  by  the  Darkest  Moments  of  Doubt, 
Obstinacy,  and  Fascination  for  the  Other  Life 

Matt.  4  1°  (cf.  vs.  8,  9,  and  Luke  12  "). 

Jesus:  "Get  thee  hence,  Satan"  (fascination  recognized, 
cf.  Matt.  16^^);  "the  Lord  and  him  only" — without  reserva- 
tion; "thou  shalt  serve" — the  path  of  duty. 

Paul:   "What  shall  I  do.  Lord. ^"    Acts  22  ^°. 

Horace  Bushnell  in  the  privacy  of  his  college  room. 

John  Wesley:  "I  resolved  to  devote  all  my  life  to  God — 
all  my  thoughts,  words  and  actions." 

F.  TV.  Robertson  in  the  Tyrol. 

Phillips  Brooks  at  Alexandria  Seminary. 

Frances  Little:  The  Lady  of  the  Decoration,  pp.  209- 
211. 

It  should  be  noted  that  this  decision  must  be  made  per- 
sonally. Jesus  refused  to  let  a  third  person  intervene  and  tell 
him  what  God's  wiU  was  (Matt.  4^).  So  later,  in  the  deter- 
mining as  to  what  God's  will  was  in  a  specific  case,  Jesus  re- 
fuses to  let  Peter  intervene  (Matt.  16  "•  23),  p^^i  refused  to 
let  the  brethren  decide  for  him  (Acts  21  ^^'^*)  and  taught  inde- 
pendence (Phil.  2  ^2).  Jesus'  last  rebuke  was  for  this  same 
reason  (John  21  "•  "), 


70  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

Study  VII.     The  Spiritual  Crisis  Involved  in  Facing  the  Issue  of 
Surrender  of  Self 

FIFTH  DAY 

The  Results  of  this  Decisive  Act  are  not  Immediately  Apparent 
although  the  Act  of  Decision  Brings  Peace  and  the  Feeling  of 
Revulsion  Against  Religion  Begins  to  Fade  Away 

Col.  1  ^ 

Matt.  4  ";  Luke  8  ",  21  ",  24  *K 


Acts  26  '''  "'  ^^'  ^"'  29;  James  5  '•  \ 


Heb.  11  13;  I  Peter  1  «' ^ 
Rev.  2  ^ 

Note  that  the  result  in  Jesus'  case  was  not  immediate 
peace,  immediate  certainty,  and  complete  victory.  The  doubts 
and  fascination  of  the  other  life  are  not  completely  svrept 
away  but  return  (Luke  4  ^^  for  a  season.  Cf.  also  Luke  22  ^^ 
"Ye  are  they  that  have  continued  with  me  in  my  tempta- 
tions"). But  by  the  great  decision  their  force  has  been 
broken.  This  decision  often  brings  with  it  victory  over  some 
sin  which  had  not  before  been  overcome. 

Matt.  4  11,  "angels" — "the  joy  of  the  uncommitted  sin." 

"It  is  true  that  this  was  not  realized  at  once.  It  grew 
with  the  natural  growth  of  years.  The  doubts  were  not  yet 
all  gone.  The  whole  history  of  these  struggling  years  can- 
not be  better  rendered  than  in  these  words  of  Tennyson, 
loved  for  their  very   familiarity: — 

" '  Perplext  in  faith,  but  pure  in  deeds, 
At  last  he  beat  his  music  out. 
There  lives  more  faith  in  honest  doubt. 
Believe  me,  than  in  half  the  creeds. 

** '  He  fought  his  doubts  and  gathered  strength. 
He  would  not  make  his  judgment  blind, 
He  faced  the  spectres  of  the  mind 
And  laid  them;  thus  he  came  at  length 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  71 

" '  To  find  a  stronger  faith  his  own ; 

And  power  was  with  him  in  the  night 
Which  makes  the  darkness  and  the  light, 
And  dwells  not  in  the  light  alone.' " 

"His  manner  of  dealing  with  mental  questions,  as  he  de- 
scribes it,  seems  the  most  sincere  and  reasonable  one 
possible : — 

"'Never  be  in  a  hurry  to  believe;  never  try  to  conquer 
doubts  against  time.  Time  is  one  of  the  grand  elements  in 
thought  as  truly  as  in  motion.  If  you  cannot  open  a  doubt 
today  keep  it  till  tomorrow;  do  not  be  afraid  to  keep  it  for 
whole  years.  One  of  the  greatest  talents  in  religious  dis- 
covery is  the  finding  how  to  hang  up  questions ;  and  let  them 
hang,  without  being  at  all  anxious  about  them.  Turn  a 
free  glance  on  them  now  and  then  as  they  hang;  move  freely 
about  them,  and  see  them  first  on  one  side  and  then  on 
another,  and  by  and  by  when  you  turn  some  corner  of  thought 
you  will  be  delighted  and  astonished  to  see  how  quietly  and 
easily  they  open  their  secret  and  let  you  in.  What  seemed 
perfectly  insoluble  will  clear  itself  in  a  wondrous  revelation. 
It  will  not  hurt  you,  nor  hurt  the  truth,  if  you  should  have 
some  few  questions  left  to  be  carried  on  with  you  when  you 
go  hence,  for  in  that  more  luminous  state,  most  likely  they 
will  soon  be  cleared,  only  a  thousand  others  will  be  springing 
up  even  there,  and  you  will  go  on  dissolving  still  your  new 
sets  of  questions,  and  growing  mightier  and  more  deep-seeing 
for  eternal  ages.'  " 

Cheney:  Life  and  Letters  of  Horace  Bushnell,  pages 
59,  GO. 

"Entire  satisfaction  to  the  intellect  is  unattainable  about 
any  of  the  greater  problems,  and  if  you  try  to  get  to  the  bot- 
tom of  them  by  argument,  there  is  no  bottom  there;  and  there- 
fore you  make  the  matter  worse  ....  the  moment  you  cut 
off  one,  a  hundred  other  heads  will  grow  in  its  place.  It 
would  be  a  pity  if  all  these  problems  could  be  solved.  The 
joy  of  the  intellectual  life  would  be  largely  gone.  I  would  not 
rob  a  man  of  his  problems  nor  would  I  have  another  man  rob 


72  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

me  of  my  problems.  They  are  the  delight  of  life,  and  the 
whole  intellectual  world  would  be  stale  and  unprofitable  if 
we  knew  everything." 

Drummond:  Dealing  with  Doubt. 

"Another  frequent  mistake  to  be  carefully  avoided  is 
that,  while  you  surrender  and  renounce  all  thought  of  making 
up  a  plan  or  choosing  out  a  plan  for  yourself,  as  one  that  you 
had  set  by  your  own  will,  you  also  give  up  the  hope  or  ex- 
pectation that  God  will  set  you  in  any  scheme  of  life  where 
the  whole  course  of  it  will  be  known  or  set  down  beforehand. 
If  you  go  to  him  to  be  guided,  he  will  guide  you,  but  he  will 
not  comfort  your  distrust  or  half-trust  of  him  by  showing 
you  his  chart  of  all  his  purposes  concerning  you.  He  will  only 
show  you  into  a  way  where,  if  you  go  cheerfully  and  trustfully 
forward,  he  will  show  you  on  still  further.  No  contract  will 
be  made  with  you,  save  that  he  engages,  if  you  trust  him,  to 
lead  you  into  the  best  things  all  the  way  through.  And  if 
they  are  better  than  you  can  either  ask  or  think  beforehand, 
they  will  be  none  the  worse  for  that." 

Bushnell:  The  New  Life,  page  21. 

See  Grenfell:  A  Man's  Faith,  pages  11-14-' 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  73 

Study  VII.     The  Spiritual  Crisis  Involved  in  Facing  the  Issue  of 
Surrender  of  Self 

SIXTH  DAY 

A  Man's  own  Individuality  and  Personality  is  not  Lost  by  thus 
Conforming  to  the  Divine  Will  but  on  the  Contrary  it  is  Marvel- 
ously  Intensified 

Gal.  4  =-' ;  I  Cor.  3  «;  John  8  '-'  ^%  15  2-  s.  j  John  2  ^ 

Jesus,  who  was  perfectly  obedient,  had  the  most  unique 
and  individual  personality  that  the  world  has  ever  seen. 

"However  irregular  the  forms  of  this  conversion  accord- 
ing to  some  theological  standards,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
as  to  its  reality  as  a  conversion  in  the  original  sense  of  that 
word.  It  was  a  complete  turning  about  of  the  life.  It 
changed  not  only  the  outward  purpose  (for  he  [Horace 
.Bushnell]  gave  up  the  law  for  the  gospel),  but  the  very  fibre 
and  tissues  of  his  being.  No,  it  did  not  change,  but,  rather, 
breathed  into  his  mortal  frame  the  breath  of  an  immortal  life 
and  vigor,  vitalized  and  inspired  his  intellect,  gave  luminous 
insight  in  place  of  'desolating  doubts'  and  set  him  free.  The 
effect  was  not  to  neutralize  but  to  heighten  his  individuality. 
If  he  was  before  Horace  Bushnell,  he  was  doubly  Bushnell 
now.  No  salient  point,  no  rugged,  racy  trait,  was  lost.  He 
seemed,  indeed,  now  first  to  have  found  himself." 

Cheney:  Life  and  Letters  of  Horace  Bushnell,  pages 
59,  60. 

Note  the  originality  of  the  man  who  lives  the  surrendered 
life. 

"The  other-worldliness  of  such  a  character  is  the  thing 
that  strikes  you;  you  are  not  prepared  for  what  it  will  do 
or.  say  or  become  next,  for  it  moves  from  a  far-off  centre 
and  in  spite  of  its  transparency  and  sweetness  that  presence 
fills  you  always  with  awe.  A  man  never  feels  the  discord 
of  his   own  life,  never  hears   the  jar  of  the  machinery   by 


74  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

which  he  tries  to  manufacture  his  own  good  points  till  he  has 
stood  in  the  stillness  of  such  a  presence.  Then  he  discerns 
the  difference  between  growth  and  work." 

Drummond:  Natural     Law     in     the     Spiritual     World, 
pages  134,  135  (Potts  Edition). 

"Now  the  ideal  man  has  no  deeper  prayer  than  that. 
He  wants  to  get  into  the  great  current  of  will  which  flows 
silently  out  of  Eternity  and  swiftly  back  into  Eternity  again. 
His  only  chance  of  happiness,  of  usefulness,  of  work  is  to 
join  the  living  rill  of  his  will  to  that.  Other  Christians  miss 
it  or  settle  on  the  bank  of  the  great  stream;  but  he  will  be 
among  the  forces  and  energies  and  powers,  that  he  may  link 
his  weakness  with  God's  greatness  and  his  simplicity  with 
God's  majesty,  that  he  may  become  a  force,  an  energy,  a 
power  for  duty  and  God.  Perhaps  God  may  do  something 
with  him.  Certainly  God  will  do  something  with  him — for 
it  is  God  who  worketh  in  him  both  to  will  and  to  do  of  his 

good   pleasure You   give    everything   to    God.      God 

gives  it  all  back  again  and  more.  You  present  your  body  a 
living  sacrifice  that  you  may  prove  God's  will.  You  shall 
prove  it  by  getting  back  your  body — a  glorified  body." 

Drummond:  The  Ideal  Life. 

"Nor  is  it  any  detraction  from  such  a  kind  of  life  that 
the  helm  of  its  guidance  is,  by  the  supposition,  to  be  in  God 
and  not  in  our  own  will  and  wisdom.     This,   in  fact,  is  its 

dignity How  different,  how  inspiring  and  magnificent, 

instead,  to  live  by  holy  consent,  a  life  all  discovery;  to  see  it 
unfolding,  moment  by  moment,  a  plan  of  God,  our  own  life- 
plan  conceived  in  his  paternal  love;  each  event,  incident, 
experience,  whether  bright  or  dark,  having  its  mission  from 
him  and  revealing,  either  now  or  in  its  future  issues,  the 
magnificence  of  his  favoring  counsel ;  to  be  sure,  in  the  dark 
day,  of  a  light  that  will  follow,  that  loss  will  terminate  in 
gain,  that  trial  will  issue  in  rest,  doubt  in  satisfaction,  suffer- 
ing in  patience,  patience  in  purity,  and  all  in  a  consummation 
of  greatness  and  dignity  that  even  God  will  look  on  with  a 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWURK  75 

smile!     How  magnificent,  how  strong  in  its  repose,  how  full 

of  rest  is  such  a  kind  of  life God  wiU  lead  every  man 

into  a  singular,  original  and  peculiar  life,  without  any  study 
of  singularity  on  his  part." 

Bushnell:  The  New  Life,  page  Jh7  ff. 


76  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  VIL     The  Spiritual  Crisis  Involved  in  Facing  the  Issue  of 
Surrender  of  Self 

SEVENTH  DAY— REVIEW 

1.  If  most  great  leaders  have  this  soul  struggle  is 
there  such  a  thing  as  the  unconscious  doing  of  God's  will? 

2.  For  example,  in  how  far  can  the  following  men  be 
said  to  have  been  doing  the  will  of  God:  Socrates?  (Cf.  Matt. 
13^^)  Augustus?  (Cf.  Luke  2^-\)  Napoleon?  (Cf.  Isaiah 
44  2*'2^,  45  ^'\  especially  vs.  5  and  7.)     Judas? 

3.  Why  the  preliminary  period  of  loneliness? 

4.  Can  a  Christian's  soul  life  be  right  if  he  is  afraid  to 
listen  to  a  missionary  talk  or  read  a  missionary  biography  ? 

5.  Was  the  old  idea  of  hereditary  trades  right? 

6.  What  is  the  meaning  of  the  descent  of  the  Holy 
Spirit?  (Acts  2  ^■*.)  Is  it  coincident  with  or  a  subsequent 
issue   of  self -surrender  ?      May   it   be   long   delayed?      (Luke 

24  *^) 


STUDY    VIII 

To  Find  Out  and  to  Do  God's  Will  for  One's  Life  is  an  Achievement 
Possible  for  Any  Man 

"But  unto  each  one  of  us  was  the  grace  given  according  to  the 
measure  of  the  gift  of  Christ.  Wherefore  he  saith,  When  he  as- 
cended on  high,  he  led  captivity  captive,  and  gave  gifts  unto  men 
....  till  we  all  attain  unto  the  unity  of  the  faith,  and  of  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  Son  of  God,  ....  unto  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the 
fullness  of  Christ."  —Eph.  4 :  7, 8,  IS. 

"Behold,  I  stand  at  the  door  and  knock:  if  any  man  hear  ray 
voice  and  open  the  door,  I  wiU  come  in  to  him,  and  will  sup  with  him, 
and  he  with  me."  — Rev.  3:20. 

"If  any  man  willeth  to  do  his  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  teaching, 
whether  it  is  of  God,  or  whether  I  speak  of  myself."      — John  7:17. 

"Have  ye  not  read  even  this  scripture;  The  stone  which  the 
builders  rejected,  the  same  was  made  the  head  of  the  corner." 

—Mark  12:10. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Drummond.  Stones  Rolled  Away.  "To  the  Man  Who  is  Down." 
Richards.  God's  Choice  of  Men.  Chapter  V.— "A  Call  for  AU." 
Shaler.    The  Masters  of  Fate. 

Wright.    A  Life  with  a  Purpose.    Chapter  I.— "The  Miracle  of 
Obedience." 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  79 


Study  Vin.      To  Find  Out  and  to  Do  God's  Will  for  One's  Life  is 
an  Achievement  Possible  for  Any  Man 

FIRST  DAY 

The  Execution  of  God's  Great  Plan  Requires  the  Most  Brilliant  Powers 
of  Body,  Mind,  Heart  and  Soul  of  Which  Man  is  Capable 

I  Cor.  14  20;  Matt.  10  ^%  22  "-^*'  "«. 

The  founder  of  Christianity  stands  unmatched  among  the 
great  men  of  history  in  the  even  balance  of  his  physical,  in- 
tellectual, social  and  spiritual  powers.  We  have  no  record 
of  illness  in  Jesus'  life.  He  was  never  outwitted  in  an  intel- 
lectual encounter.  No  call  upon  his  friendship  ever  went  un- 
answered. What  he  exemplified  in  himself  he  set  as  the  ideal 
of  his  followers.  They  were  to  serve  God  with  the  full  powers 
of  body,  mind,  heart  and  soul.  Waste,  undeveloped  possi- 
bilities, misused  opportunities,  received  from  him  the  most 
severe  condemnation.  He  was  constantly  teaching  that  the 
kingdom  of  God  demanded  the  best  that  men  could  give. 


80  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  Vin.      To  Find  Out  and  to  Do  God's  Will  for  One's  Life  is 
an  Achievement  Possible  for  Any  Man 

SECOND  DAY 

Yet  this  Task  Has  Never  Been  Reserved  for  Those  Alone  Whom  the 
World  Regards  as  Specially  Gifted 

I  Cor.  1  26-29,  12  *-30;  II  Cor.  8  "•  ^^;  Col.  1  ^S;  Matt.  11 
26,  26^  20  1-^%  22^-1";  JamesT^ 


In  direct  contrast  to  this  stern  demand  of  Jesus  is  his 
constant  practice  of  enlisting  the  frailest  and  most  unpromis- 
ing lives  for  his  great  undertaking. 

"When  one  thinks  of  the  enterprise  to  be  committed  to 
their  hands,  and  considers  the  low  estate  of  the  Twelve,  his 

feeling  is  amazement  and  disappointment Were  there 

no  men  of  standing  and  education,  who  had  enough  faith  in 
Jesus  and  enough  devotion  to  religion  to  undertake  this  high 
office?  ....  Why  should  he  not  have  called  Nicodemus  .... 
that  high-minded  and  ingenuous  young  ruler  ....  and  that 
nameless  scholar  ....  Jairus  ....  Joseph  of  Arimathea 
....  the  nobleman  of  Cana  ....  Manaen  ....  the 
goodman  of  Galilee  whom  Jesus  used  as  father  in  the  Parable 
of  the  Prodigal  Son  ....  Gamaliel  ....  Saul  ....  the 
host  of  the  'upper  room'  and  that  gentle  soul  Lazarus  ?  So  the 
Master  would  have  had  twelve  apostles  whom  the  nation  would 
have  trusted,  and  whom  the  council  would  not  have  flouted." 
Watson  :  The  Life  of  the  Master,  pages  190,  191. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  81 


Study  VII7        To  Find  Out  and  to  Do  God's  Will  for  One's  Life  is 
an  Achievement  Possible  for  Any  Man 

THIRD  DAY 

God  Enlists  and  Uses  Mightily  for  the  Execution  of  His  Plan  Those 
Who  are  Frail  in  Body  and  Mind 

I  Cor.  12".  II  Cor.  lS*f;  Rom.  4^';  Matt.  11  "'^s, 
Luke  14";  Heb.  12  ^2,  i3 

Study  carefully  the  Scripture  references  for  today's  les- 
son. With  what  physical  drawbacks  did  Paul  have  to  con- 
tend.'' (II  Cor.  12^'*.)  Read  during  this  week,  if  possible, 
the  biography  of  some  of  the  world's  "masters  of  fate  in  the 
physical  realm" — David  Brainerd,  R.  L.  Stevenson,  Francis 
Parkman,  Henry  Martyn,  William  Johnson  of  Liberia,  Helen 
Keller  or  others. 

For  a  wonderful  instance  of  God's  mighty  use  of  the 
frail-minded  see  Sutter,  A  Colony  of  Mercy,  which  tells  the 
story  of  Pastor  von  Bodelschwingh's  work  with  this  class  in 
Germany. 


THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  VIII.     To  Find  Out  and  to  Do  God's  Will  for  One's  Life  is 
an  Achievement  Possible  for  Any  Man 

FOURTH  DAY 

God  has  a  Place  in  His  Plan  for  the  Timid  and  Unpopular  as  Well  as 
for  Those  Whom  the  World  Has  Rejected  Because  of  Misfortune 
or  Sin 

Rom.  5  \9  ''•  ''  (cf.  Hosea  1  i"-  2  ^s) ;  I  Tim.  1  ^-"^^ 


Mark  2  ^^  12  ^'''  ". 

Matt.  9  '%  10  %  11  2»'  29^  18  12-14^  20  «'  ^  21  ^\ 

Luke  1  *«•  ^^  3  5^  6  ^^  (margin),  9  *^'  ^^  15  (entire  chap- 
ter). 

Heb.  11  3210  (esp.  v.  34)  ;  I  Peter  2  *;  John  6  ". 

A  far  more  difficult  problem  than  that  of  the  physically 
frail  or  the  weak-minded  in  any  community  is  that  of  the  out- 
cast— both  the  self-ostracised,  the  timid  and  sensitive,  and  the 
social  outcast,  the  breaker  of  moral  or  civil  law.  Jesus  not 
only  welcomes  all  such  men  into  the  circle  of  his  followers, 
but  his  life  was  given  to  them.  He  was  the  friend  of  publi- 
cans and  sinners.  He  came  not  to  call  the  righteous  but 
sinners.  P'rom  such  men  the  mightiest  instruments  for  good  in 
his  kingdom  have  been  made.  In  connection  with  this  day's 
study  consult  the  biography  of  Jerry  McAuley  and  S.  H. 
Hadley's  "Down  in  Water  Street." 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  83 

Study  VIII.     To  Find  Out  and  to  Do  God's  Will  for  One's  Life  is 
an  Achievement  Possible  for  Any  Man 

FIFTH  DAY 

Regeneration  and  Transformation  Come  into  a  Human  Life  Giving  it 
Sufficient  Power  for  its  Tasks,  no  Matter  how  Frail  and  Weak 
it  May  Have  Been,  when  that  Life  has  Willed  to  Know  and  to  Do 
the  Exact  Work  for  which  God  had  Intended  it 

I  Cor.  1  30;  Rom.  11  ''^  14^;  Eph.  1  ^%  2^,  4  ". 
Mark  4  «•  2",  6-'%  10-';"M"att.  21  *=;  Luke  5  ^""-^^  19  '^ 
Heb.  7  " ;  I  Peter  iX 

Jesus  brings  to  the  world  a  message  of  hope.  No  man 
has  fallen  beyond  possibility  of  regeneration.  The  simple 
question  is  whether  or  not  the  individual  is  willing  to  be 
transformed  and  will  pay  the  price  of  complete  surrender  to 
God's  transforming  power.     What  is  that  price."* 

"If  any  man  ....  takes  this  seriously  and  means  busi- 
ness ;  if  he  means  for  the  future  not  to  keep  up  the  sham  fight 
that  he  has  been  pretending  to  wage  and  means  to  get  to  the 
bottom  of  things,  let  me  ask  him  for  a  few  days  from  this 
time  to  treat  himself  as  a  man  who  has  been  very  ill  and 
dare  not  do  anything.  Let  him  consider  himself  as  a  conval- 
escent for  a  few  weeks  and  take  care  where  he  goes,  what  he 
reads,  what  he  looks  at,  and  the  people  he  speaks  to.  He  is 
not  strong  enough  for  the  outer  air.  When  he  first  begins  the 
new  life  he  is  young  and  tender.  Therefore  let  him  beware 
of  the  first  few  days.  Mortality  is  greatest  among  children 
for  the  first  few  hours ;  then  it  is  greater  for  the  first  few 
days ;  then  it  is  great  for  the  next  few  months  and  lessens  as 
the  children  grow  older.  If  you  are  careful  not  to  catch  cold 
for  the  first  few  weeks  after  you  begin  to  lead  a  new  life,  you 
will  succeed;  but  if  you  do  tomorrow  what  you  did  today, 
you  will  go  wrong,  because  you  are  not  strong  enough  to  resist. 
You  will  have  to  build  up  this  new  body,  cell  by  cell,  day  by 
day,  just  as  the  old  body  of  temptation  has  been  built  up.  If 
any  man  ....  knows  any  other  man  who  is  in  that  conval- 


84  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

escent  condition,  let  him  take  care,  and  neither  by  jest  or 
word,  or  temptation,  throw  that  man  back.  Stand  by  him  if 
you  know  such  a  man.  If  you  are  such  a  man,  do  not  be 
ashamed  to  get  somebody  else  to  back  you  and  go  along  with 
you.  Very  few  men  can  live  a  solitary  Christian  life.  You 
will  find  it  a  great  source  of  strength  to  get  another  man's  life 
wound  about  you.     You  can  help  each  other." 

Drummond:  Stones  Rolled  Away,  pages  7S,  7J^. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  SB 


Study  VIII.      To  Find  Out  and  to  Do  God's  Will  for  One's  Life  is 
an  Achievement  Possible  for  Any  Man 

SIXTH  DAY 

The  Miracle  of  Obedience 

I  Cor.  2^  II  Cor.£^^  Rom.  6  *;  Eph.  3 '";  Phil.  3  ==<>•"; 
Luke  21  "•  ^=;  I  Peter  1  -\     ~ 
John  3  S  5  2°,  14  ". 

See  Drummond,  Tfie  Ascent  of  Man,  Chapter  X. — "In- 
volution." 

"Is  there  then  a  mighty,  miraculous  law  of  God,  under- 
lying the  life  of  men,  the  processes  of  which  may  be  observed, 
a  law  whereby  weak  men  are  made  strong,  whereby  the  ordi- 
nary man  can  become  extraordinary,  a  law  which  no  man  can 
create  or  master  but  a  law  of  which  any  man  may  avail  him- 
self if  he  will.''  Are  the  phrases  which  were  so  constantly  on 
Paul's  lips,  'Him  that  enabled  me,'  'The  strength  which  God 
supplieth,'  'Newness  of  life,'  'My  God  shall  fulfil  every  need,' 
'I  can  do  all  things  through  him,'  'His  working  which  work- 
eth  in  me  mightily'  mere  empty  phrases  of  rhetoric,  or  are 
they  the  genuine  witnesses  to  a  mysterious  power  which  had 
made  of  Paul  a  new  creature.''  When  such  a  thought  first 
dawns  upon  one  its  possibilities  are  well-nigh  overwhelming. 
President  Jordan  tells  us  that  one  half  of  the  nominal  strength 
of  the  young  men  of  America  is  today  wasted  in  dissipation, 

gross  or  petty But  what  of  the  fourfold  or  the  tenfold 

strength  which  God  intended  to  supply  to  men  which  they  have 
never  claimed,  and  which,  after  all,  was  really  their  normal 
strength  in  God's  thought  for  their  life.^" 

A  Life  with  a  Purpose,  page  19. 


86  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  VIIL      To  Find  Out  and  to  Do  God's  Will  for  One's  Life  is 
an  Achievement  Possible  for  Any  Man 

SEVENTH  DAY— REVIEW 

1.  If  Jesus  will  accept  all  classes  of  men  why  are  there 
so  many  outcasts  in  the  world  today? 

2.  With  what  different  kinds  of  criminals  did  Jesus  have 
dealings  ? 

3.  Against  what  class  of  men  were  his  fiercest  denuncia- 
tions hurled? 

4.  What  was  the  object  of  these  denunciations? 


STUDY    IX 

God'*  Will  May  be  Done  in  any  Honorable  Trade   or  Profession, 
Either  at  Home  or  Abroad 

"Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the  gospel  to  the  whole 
creation,"  — Mark  16 :  J  5. 

"The  hour  cometh  when  neither  in  this  mountain,  nor  in  Jerusa- 
lem, shall  ye  worship  the  Father."  — John  4:21. 

"The  kingdom  of  God  is  in  the  midst  of  you." 

— Luke  17:21  (margin). 

"Let  each  man  abide  in  that  calling  wherein  he  was  called. 
Brethren,  let  each  man,  wherein  he  was  called,  therein  abide  with 
God."  — /  Cor.  7:20,24. 

"If  the  whole  body  were  an  eye,  where  were  the  hearing?  If  the 
whole  were  hearing,  where  were  the  smelling?  But  now  hath  God 
set  the  members  each  one  of  them  in  the  body,  even  as  it  pleased 
him."  —I  Cor.  12:17,18. 

"Wherefore  also  we  make  it  our  aim,  whether  at  home  or  absent, 
to  be  well  pleasing  unto  him.  For  we  must  all  be  made  manifest 
before  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ;  that  each  one  may  receive  the 
things  done  in  the  body,  according  to  what  he  hath  done,  whether 
it  be  good  or  bad."  — //  Cor.  5:9,10. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Mathews,  Shailer.  "The  Christian  Church  and  Social  Unity." 
American  Journal  of  Sociology,  January,  1900,  pages  456-469. 

Hepworth.  Hiram  Golf's  Religion  or  the  "Shoemaker  by  the 
Grace  of  God." 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  89 


Study  IX.     God's  Will  May  be  Done  in  any  Honorable  Trade 
or  Profession 

FIRST  DAY 

Jesus  and   the  Apostles  Laymen,  not   Members   of  the   Professional 
Clergy 

Matt.  13  "-^«;  John  7  '^  (Jesus). 

1  Thess.  2^  II  Thess.  3  ^-'-;  I  Cor.  4  ",  9 '"'^  II  Cor. 
11  %  12  ";  Acts  18  1-*,  20^3-3=  (Paul). 
I  Thess.  4"'^-;  I  Peter  4  ". 

When  we  compare  the  religious  leaders  of  the  first 
century  with  those  of  the  twentieth  we  notice  one  striking 
difference.  The  leaders  of  the  first  century  did  not  regard 
religious  work  as  a  regular  paid  profession.  Jesus  received 
no  money  in  payment  for  his  work  as  an  evangelist.  He  was 
known  not  as  a  professional  clergyman  but  as  "the  carpenter" 
(Mark  6  ^'^).  Paul  expressly  states  (see  eight  references 
cited  above)  that  he  took  no  remuneration  for  his  ministry 
although  it  would  have  been  right  to  have  done  so,  but  that 
he  supported  himself  entirely  by  his  trade,  which  we  know  was 
that  of  tentmaking  (Acts  18  ^'*).  In  the  early  church  it  was 
taken  for  granted  that  a  Christian  should  have  his  regular 
trade  (II  Thess.  3  "•  ^")  ;  the  extent  of  his  ministry  in  the 
church  and  its  nature  was  to  be  regulated  by  the  gifts  which  he 
possessed  (I  Peter  4^*'). 

Jesus  and  the  Apostles,  then,  were  laymen,  not  members 
of  the  professional  clergy.  Jesus'  ministry  was  one,  not 
primarily  through  the  channel  of  the  synagogue  and  the 
established  clergy,  but  rather  through  that  of  the  field,  the 
hillside^  the  marketplace  and  the  layman. 


90  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

Study  IX.     God's  Will  May  be  Done  in  any  Honorable  Trade 
or  Profession 

SECOND  DAY 

No  Honorable  Profession  or  Trade  Secular  in  God's  Plan.     All  Must 
be  Ministries 

I  Cor.  720.24^  iQ3i^  12*-^%  12^1;  II  Cor.  5^°;  Rom. 
12  «-«,  16  ^\ 

Col.  3  ^\  4  1^  Eph.  4^-^«;  I  Tim.  4  ^'  ^;  Titus  3  ^\ 
Matt.  9  '■'';  Luke  3  ""^S  5  ^-";  John  21  ^-«. 

Jesus  emphasized  a  great  truth  which  had  so  far  made  but 
little  impression  upon  men — that  the  professions  and  trades 
of  men  should  not  be  divided  into  two  hostile  camps — the 
religious  and  the  secular;  but  that  every  honorable  occupation 
should  be  a  Christian  ministry.  John  the  Baptist  had  grasped 
this  idea  when  he  advised  the  tax  collectors  and  soldiers  who 
came  to  him  in  repentance  not  to  renounce  their  callings  but 
to  make  these  latter  ministries  to  men  by  the  example  of 
honorable  living  in  them.  James,  John,  Peter  and  Andrew 
had  been  fishers  before  Jesus  called  them;  they  returned  to 
theii  trade  afterwards.  (John  21  ^'^.)  Matthew,  it  is  true, 
left  his  old  occupation,  probably  because  he  did  not  trust  him- 
self to  continue  in  it ;  we  are  certainly  to  suppose  that  he  took 
up  some  new  occupation  for  his  support.  In  Paul's  circle  of 
associates  were  a  physician,  a  lawyer  and  a  city  treasurer 
(see  verses  cited  above).  Jesus  nowhere  more  clearly  em- 
phasizes this  truth  of  the  lay  ministry  than^in  Luke  8  ^^'  ^^. 

"Though  we  may  never  be  famous  or  powerful  or  called 
to  heroic  suffering  or  acts  of  self-denial  which  will  vibrate 
through  history  ....  though  we  are  neither  intended  to  be 
apostles,  nor  missionaries,  nor  martyrs,  but  to  be  common 
people  living  in  common  houses,  spending  the  day  in  common 
offices  or  common  kitchens ;  yet  doing  the  will  of  God  there,  we 
shall  do  as  much  as  apostle  or  missionary  or  martyr,  seeing 
that  they  can  do  no  more  than  do  God's  will  where  they  are. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  91 

even  so  we  can  do  as  much  where  we  are — and  answer  the 
end  of  our  life  as  truly,  faithfully,  triumphantly  as  they." 

Drummond:  The  Ideal  Life,  page  264- 

"You  are  never  to  complain  of  your  birth,  your  training, 
your  employments,  your  hardships,  never  to  fancy  that  you 
could  be  something  if  only  you  had  a  different  lot  and  sphere 

assigned  you Hence  it  was  that  an  apostle  required 

his  converts  to  abide,  each  one  in  that  calling  wherein  he 
was  called;  to  fill  his  place  till  he  opens  a  way,  by  filling  it, 
to  some  other:  the  bondman  to  fill  his  house  of  bondage  with 
love  and  duty,  the  laborer  to  labor,  the  woman  to  be  a  woman, 
the  men  to  show  themselves  men — all  to  acknowledge  God's 
hand  in  their  lot,  and  seek  to  cooperate  with  that  good  design 
which  he  most  assuredly  cherishes  for  them." 

Bushnell:  The  New  Lif€j  pages  19,  20. 


92  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

Study  IX.     God's  Will  May  be  Done  in  any  Honorable  Trade 
or  Profession 

THIRD  DAY 

The  Professional  Clergyman  Necessitated  by  the  Need  of  Expert 
Leadership  among  the  Laymen  Who  without  Such  Stimulus 
Were  Either  Unable  or  Unwilling  to  Grasp  the  Idea  of  Their 
Responsibility 

I  Tim.  4  ^-i«. 

Whence,  then,  in  this  ministry  of  laymen  arose  the 
necessity  for  the  professional  clergyman  who  receives  a 
regular  salary  for  his  work?  The  rightful  place  of  the 
church  and  of  the  professional  clergyman  Jesus  recognized 
in  his  day  (see  Speer,  Principles  of  Jesus,  "Jesus  and  the 
Church  of  God")  ;  and  he  explicitly  teaches  that  a  Christian 
minister  may  receive  salary  for  his  services   (Matt.   10  ^°). 

Was  not  the  professional  clergyman  in  the  Christian 
church  called  into  being  by  the  need  of  expert  leadership  felt 
among  the  laymen  }  So  long  as  Jesus  was  on  earth  he  supplied 
this  need.  After  an  interval  Paul  served  without  pay  as  in- 
spirer  and  instructor  of  the  disciples.  But  as  the  greatest 
of  the  Apostles  approaches  the  end  of  his  life  he  sees  clearly 
the  necessity  for  a  successor  who  can  give  more  time  to  the 
organization  and  leadership  of  the  fast  growing  church  than 
has  been  required  in  the  past.  In  the  4th  chapter  of  First 
Timothy  we  have  the  story  of  Paul's  selection  and  instruction 
of  one  such  leader.  The  laj'men  have  been  either  unwilling  or 
unable  to  grasp  the  conception  of  their  trades  as  ministries. 
Some  have  fallen  away.  Practical  efficiency  in  the  church 
I'equires  another  leader.  Timothy  is  henceforth  to  give  him- 
self wholly  (I  Tim.  4  ")  to  the  instruction  of  others  (mainly 
by  that  most  potent  of  all  methods  of  instruction — his  own 
example,  I  Tim.  4  ^-).  It  is  noteworthy  that  in  neither 
of  the  letters  to  Timothy  does  Paul  make  reference  to  the 
fact  that  he  received  no  pay  for  his  religious  work,  but  he 
expressly  directs  that  henceforth  compensation  is  to  be  paid 
for  genuine  expert  leadership  (I  Tim.  5  ^^'  ^^). 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  93 

Study  IX.     God's  Will  May  be  Done  in  any  Honorable  Trade 
or  Profession 

FOURTH  DAY 

The  Place  of  the  Church  and  of  the  Professional  Clergyman 

I   Cor.    9";   I    Tim.    5  "'^8;   Matt.    10 1";   John    10  ^-S; 


17 


18,  19 


1.  The  church  is  not  a  close  corporation  which  alone  has 
the  right  to  dispense  salvation — demonstrated  by  Luther. 

2.  Seminary  training  and  ordination  does  not  necessarily 
give  spiritual  authority — proved  by  cases  of  D.  L.  Moody, 
R.  E.  Speer,  J.  R.  Mott. 

3.  The  clergy  are  not  an  opposition  party  or  society  to 
the  secular  occupations. 

4.  The  church  is  not  the  place  to  which  the  great  mass  of 
the  world  comes  to  be  converted.  The  great  mass  of  the  world 
has  never  come  to  church  except  when  compelled  to,  and  it 
never  wiU.     It  is  perfectly  natural  that  it  should  not. 

5.  The  clergyman  is  not  a  convenience  to  whom  the  lay- 
man can  delegate  all  his  heart  work  that  calls  for  sym- 
pathy— care  of  poor,  outcast,  bereaved,  etc. 

6.  The  church  is  not  the  place  to  which  the  layman 
is  to  come  to  get  culture  and  aesthetic  enjoyment. 

The  function  of  the  professional  clergyman  in  the 
church  is  that  which  busied  Jesus  in  his  relations  with  the 
Twelve.  The  church  is  a  training  school  in  method  and 
a  centre  of  inspiration  for  the  Christian  layman  and  for  him 
only.  It  aims  not  primarily  to  do  the  direct  evangelization 
and  to  bring  the  kingdom  of  God  itself  without  a  medium,  but 
rather  to  train  and  inspire  the  Christian  layman  to  go  forth 
as  its  representative  into  his  trade  and  evangelize  that.  The 
test  of  the  efficiency  of  a  church  is  not  the  numbers  who 
come  to  it  but  its  answer  to  the  question  whether  any  laymen 
go  out  from  it  to  Christianize  their  respective  professions. 

The  test  of  the  efficiency  of  our  work  in  the  Christian 
Associations  is  not  the  number  of  unconverted  men  who  come 


94  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

to  our  meetings.  They  never  have  been  many  and  they  never 
will  be.  The^te^t  is  the  number  of  Bible  groups^nd_men  -we 
have  actually  working  in  the  dormitories  and  the  fraternities. 
Missions  in  the  Foreign  Field  have  been  reorganized  along  this 
line  in  recent  years  and  almost  all  the  evangelization  is  now 
done  by  the  native  lay  workers  in  their  own  trades  and  com- 
munities. The  missionary  is  mainly  the  trainer  of  these  native 
workers.  The  wonderful  success  of  the  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Association  is  largely  due  to  the  fact  that  it  represents 
Jesus'  own  method — evangelization  directly  by  the  layman, 
and  indirectly  by  the  clergyman. 

Should  the  leader  of  this  group  of  evangelizing  laymen 
be  paid  for  his  services  in  the  highly  professional  work  of 
training  leaders.''  Certainly,  but  only  those  who  receive  the 
benefit  of  the  training  should  be  asked  to  pay.  Should  he 
receive  a  theological  training?  In  general,  yes.  He  ought 
to  be  intellectually  the  superior  of  all  his  students.  Should  he 
be  ordained.''  Yes,  in  general,  in  order  that  there  may  be  a 
check  upon  unworthy  men  getting  into  places  of  leadership. 

Should  the  laymen  accept  pay  for  their  heart  work  with 
their  unconverted  mates.''  Never.  Only  when  called  upon 
for  executive  work  in  leading  or  to  teach  other  Christian 
laymen  how  to  do  the  work  should  they  accept  pay. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  95 

Study  IX.     God's  Will  May  be  Done  in  any  Honorable  Trade 
or  Profession 

FIFTH  DAY 

The   Evangelization   of  the  World   to  be  Directly  Accomplished  by 
Laymen 

I  Thess.   1«;  I  Cor.   12"-";  II  Cor.  2^*;  I  Tim.  2«; 
Ltike  17  ^^  (margin)  ;  John  4  -^ 

If  Jesus  and  his  twelve  Apostles  represent  the  model 
church  it  becomes  at  once  apparent  that  it  must  be  God's 
plan  to  accomplish  the  evangelization  of  the  world  directly 
not  by  clergymen  but  by  laymen.  The  clergyman  gathers  the 
laymen  about  him,  instructs  them  in  methods  and  inspires 
them  with  motive;  the  laymen  go  forth  into  the  world  having 
caught  the  meaning  of  the  great  truth  of  Jesus — "the  king- 
dom of  God  is  in  the  midst  of  you" — i.e.  that  not  in  the 
church  edifice  nor  in  a  Zion  city  (John  4  '^)  but  right  in 
one's  own  profession,  wherever  one  has  intercourse  with,' 
men,  there  is  the  place  where  he,  not  the  clergyman,  can  besti 
accomplish  the  coming  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  The  tent-\ 
maker  among  the  tentmakers ;  the  fisherman  among  the  other  \ 
fishermen  casting  their  nets ;  you,  the  teacher  among  your 
colleagues  and  pupils  as  you  teach;  you,  the  physician  or 
lawyer,  among  your  patients  or  clients  as  you  practice ;  you, 
the  engineer,  among  your  assistants,  especially  among  the 
Italians  who  dig  the  ditches  for  your  survey — wherever  a 
layman  is  in  contact  with  a  body  of  men,  there  is  his  parish 
for  active  evangelization.  And  why  is  this  evangelization  by 
laymen  God's  chosen  method  ?  The  Christian  layman  who  is 
a  specialist  in  his  line  alone  has  access  to  the  minds  and  hearts 
of  his  associates.  He  alone  can  translate  the  life  and  teaching 
of  Jesus  into  terms  which  his  associates  can  understand  and 
will  respect.  Such  work  as  Professor  Jenks'  will  have  more 
effect  on  the  sociologists  of  the  country  than  many  sermons. 
The  next  generation  will  see  the  extension  of  Professor  Jenks' 
idea  into  all  the  callings  and  trades  by  Christian  laymen  in 


96  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

these  trades.  To  expect  one  clergyman  to  preach  the  gospel 
acceptably  to  the  unconverted  of  forty  different  kinds  of 
specialized  callings,  each  with  its  own  viewpoint  and  special 
vernacular,  is  as  ridiculous  as  to  expect  him  to  be  able  to  preach 
acceptably  in  forty  different  languages. 

And  how  is  the  layman  to  accomplish  this  evangelization? 
Is  he  to  preach  and  pray  and  scatter  tracts  or  give  Christian 
counsel  or  lead  a  Bible  class?  Not  at  first.  The  greatest 
joy  of  his  life  as  years  go  by  and  as  he  comes  to  have  the 
complete  soul-confidence  of  his  associates  will  be  in  just  such 
services.  His  work  can  never  be  complete  without  such  a 
climax.  But  his  first  step  in  evangelization  is  to  become  a 
master  in  his  special  calling  and  in  the  life  and  teaching  of 
Jesus  translated  into  his  own  calling  and  his  own  life,  so 
that  he  may  have  the  complete  respect  and  confidence  of  his 
associates.  For  their  sakes  he  sanctifies  himself  oftentimes 
by  hard  technical  study  (John  17  ^^).  Then  he  consecrates 
his  life  to  the  accomplishment  of  three  things  among  his  as- 
sociates— that  they  may  be  righteous,  happy  and  contented, 
not  only  on  the  surface  but  in  their  heart  life  within — in  the 
Holy  Ghost  (Rom.  14^^).  In  the  little  circle  where  his 
calling  is  he  makes  it  his  ideal  that  so  far  as  lies  in  his  power 
there  shall  henceforth  be  no  sin-bound  men^  no  sad  men  and 
no  disheartened  men. 

"He  who  cannot  feel  the  humanity  of  his  neighbor  be- 
cause he  is  different  from  himself  in  education,  habits,  opin- 
ions, morals,  circumstances,  objects,  is  unfit,  if  not  unworthy, 
to  aid  him." 

Macdonald:  Robert  Falconer,  page  374- 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  97 

Study  IX.     God's  Will  May  be  Done  in  any  Honorable  Trade 
or  Profession 

SIXTH  DAY 

The  Task  of  a  Christian  Layman  Therefore  as  Difficult  as  that  of 
a  Minister  or  Missionary.  No  Greater  Hypocrite  than  a  Sham 
Christian  Layman 

Matt.  7  '"'  ";  Luke  13  ""^^  John  21  ^^-". 

THE  SHEEP  LOOK  UP 
•'The  sheep  look  up  and  are  not  fed." — Lycida^, 

"  Beating  the  air  with  threat'ning  hands, 
The  Demagogue  defiant   stands, 
Shouting  beside  the  busy  street, 
While  round  him  hundreds  hungry  bleat,— 
'The  sheep  look  up  and  are  not  fed.' 

"With  eyes  on  manuscript  attent. 
On  theologic  doctrine  bent. 
The  Preacher  often  scowls  his  views, 
Nor  knows  the  starving  in  his  pews, — 
'The  sheep  look  up  and  are  not  fed.' 

"  And  oft  in  academic  halls. 

Hid  from  the  world  by  cloist'ring  walls. 
The  Teacher,  in  his  learning's  pride. 
Forgets  the  pupil  at  his  side, — 
'The  sheep  look  up  and  are  not  fed.' 

**  O  men  of  Christ,  sent  forth  to  preach 
The  Better  Waj',  the  truth  to  teach, 
Still  is  He  asking,  'Lov'st  thou  me?' 
Still  is  our  proof  of  loyalty 
That  those  who  hunger  shall  be  fed." 

JoHx  Finlet:   Outlook,  16  December,  1905. 

The  difTerence,  then,  between  the  clergyman  and  the  Chris- 
tian layman  is  the  same  as  the  difference  between  the  in- 
structor   at    West    Point    and    the    cadets    under    him.      The 


98  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

instructor  should^  perhaps,  have  been  a  fighter  in  the  past  in 
order  to  give  the  most  practical  instruction  and  to  command 
respect;  he  should  be  able  at  any  time,  perhaps,  to  take  the 
field  himself.  But  his  business  is  not  to  fight.  He  is  not 
expected  to  fight.     He  is  expected  to  teach  men  how. 

The_prevalent  modern  idea  that,  if  a  man  decides  not  to 
be  a  missionary  or  a  minister  he  is  relieved  from  all  further 
responsibility  for  Christian  work,  is  utterly  false  and  per- 
nicious. The  decision  not  to  be  a  clergyman,  if  a  man  be  a 
Christian  at  all,  is  in  fact  his  act  of  enlistment  in  active 
evangelization.  The  clergyman  may  spend  much  time  in  his 
study  with  the  theory  of  religion.  We  shall  find  no  fault 
with  him  if  he  does.  But  the  layman  must  evangelise.  The 
idea  that  all  the  Christian  layman  is  under  obligations  to 
do  is  to  be  an  officer  in  the  church,  make  a  regular  contribu- 
tion or  hold  down  a  pew  on  Sunday,  is  pagan.  It  is  just  as 
ridiculous  as  if  at  the  outbreak  of  a  war  the  cadets  at  West 
Point  and  all  the  graduates  should  club  together  and  hire  the 
instructors  there  to  go  to  the  front  and  do  the  fighting  while 
they  either  sit  and  look  on,  hear  the  reports  from  the 
front  or  listen  to  the  military  band. 

Two  deductions  follow  from  the  hypothesis  that  Jesus 
and  the  Twelve  are  the  model  for  us  to  follow.  The  first  is 
that  the  task  of  the  ordinary  Christian  layman  in  bringing 
righteousness,  joy  and  peace  in  his  profession  is  the  highest 
trust  in  the  world.  It  is  not  a  matter  of  inclination  whether 
a  man  shall  undertake  it  or  not;  it  is  his  duty.  Only  in  this 
way  at  home  and  abroad  can  the  evangelization  of  the  world 
be  accomplished.  Such  work  is  often  more  difficult  than  that 
of  the  ordained  minister  or  missionary.  It  requires  a  daily 
battle  with  indulgence,  greed  and  pride  which  the  clergyman, 
surrounded  by  the  safeguards  of  his  profession,  often  escapes. 
It  is  as  difficult  to  be  a  layman  as  to  be  a  clergyman. 

The  second  deduction  is  this.  There  is  no  greater  hypo- 
crite than  a  sham  Christian  layman — the  man  who  says  that 
there  is  so  much  work  to  be  done  at  home  that  he  will  not  go 
abroad  and  then,  instead  of  living  the  life  of  heroism  and 
martyrdom   in    his    own    profession    against    self-indulgence. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  9§ 

ambition  and  greed  in  the  attempt  to  bring  righteousness,  joy 
and  peace  among  men,  settles  down  to  amass,  and  then  to 
spend  his  income.  Such  a  man  does  far  more  to  retard  the 
progress  of  God's  kingdom  than  the  clergyman  who  falls  into 
sin.  The  latter  is  easily  detected  and  universally  scorned. 
The  sham  Christian  layman  can  rarely  be  detected  or  shown 
up  in  this  life.  He  is  answerable  only  to  God.  The  world 
can  never  know  his  motive  in  purchasing  the  three  or  four  or 
five  yoke  of  oxen,  in  buying  the  field  or  in  marrying  the  wife. 
Was  it  in  order  better  to  serve  men  or  merely  to  serve  self? 
Either  alternative  is  possible  in  every  case.  Which  it  was  in 
his  case  God  and  he  alone  know. 

You  have  said  that  you  do  not  feel  qualified  or  good 
enough  to  be  a  clergyman  or  missionary.  You  rightly  assert 
that  God's  will  can  and  must  be  done  in  every  honorable 
trade  or  profession ;  hence  you  will  be  a  layman.  Good !  but 
do  you  dare  to  be  a  layman,  to  leave  the  protected  path  of  the 
ministry  for  the  hardest  of  all  paths  ?  It  is  a  narrow  way. 
If  you  are  a  hero,  "strive  to  enter  in,"  says  Jesus  (Luke 
13  '*)  ;  but  he  also  asks,  "Are  you  able?"     (Mark  10^*.) 


100  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  IX.     God's  Will  May  be  Done  in  any  Honorable  Trade 
or  Profession 

SEVENTH  DAY— REVIEW 

1.  In  organizing  a  church  after  Jesus'  method  should 
the  Christian  laymen  seek  their  leader  or  should  the  leader 
enlist  the  laymen? 

2.  Has  a  group  of  laymen  thus  organized  the  right  to 
partake  of  the  Lord's  Supper  among  themselves  ? 

3.  What  gives  to  one  layman  rather  than  to  any  other  in 
a  group  the  right  to  assume  the  leadership  of  that  group  ? 

4.  Can  God's  will  be  done  in  every  profession,  e.g.  liquor- 
selling,  saloon-keeping,  etc..'' 

5.  Should  one  ever  receive  money  for  the  conversion  of 
others.?     (I  Peter  5  ^.) 

6.  Outline  in  a  few  sentences  the  relations  that  should 
exist  between  a  layman  and  his  clergyman;  between  a  lay- 
man and  his  constituents. 


STUDY    X 

The  Necessity  for  Absolute  Surrender  of  Self 

"And  Jesus  looking  upon  him  loved  him,  and  said  unto  him,  On9 
thing  thou  lackest."  — Mark  10:21. 

"So  therefore  whosoever  he  be  of  you  that  renounceth  not  all 
that  he  hath,  he  cannot  be  my  disciple."  — Luke  I4 :  S3. 

"Take   now    thy   son,  thine   only   son,  whom   thou  lovest,  even 
Isaac,  and  get  thee  into  the  land  of  Moriah;  and  offer  him  there  for 

a  burnt  offering And  Abraham,  ....  took  ....  Isaac  his  son 

....  and  went Abraham,  ....  Lay  not  thy  hand  upon  the  lad, 

neither  do  thou  anything  unto  him:  for  now  I  know  that  thou  fearest 
God,  seeing  that  thou  hast  not  withheld  thy  son,  thine  only  son, 
from  me."  —Gen.  22:2,8,11,12. 

"Thy  will  be  done  forever  and  ever,  O  Lord,  without  if  or  but.^ 

St.  FaAKcoisE  de  Chaktal. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Murray.     Absolute  Surrender. 

James,    William.     "The    Moral    Equivalent    of    War."      Inter- 
national Conciliation,  February,  1910,  No.  27. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  103 

Study  X.     The  Necessity  for  Absolute  Surrender  of  Self 

FIRST  DAY 

If  God's  Will  may  be  Done  in  any  Profession,  Why  not  then  Select 
the  First  Career  That  Presents  Itself,  or  the  Pleasantest,  Without 
Facing  the  Possibility  of  the  Dangerous  and  Disagreeable  Careers 

[Isaiah  53  ^] 

Luke  14  28-32^  22  33.  3*. 

In  the  preceding  lesson  we  tried  to  establish  the  propo- 
sition that  God's  will  can  and  must  be  done  in  every  pro- 
fession. Why  then,  asks  the  perplexed  inquirer,  all  this  hue 
and  cry  about  the  dangerous  and  disagreeable  professions — 
the  missionary  question,  for  example?  Let  each  man  adopt 
whatever  calling  he  prefers,  or  better  still  let  him  take  the 
first  work  that  presents  itself.  Must  every  man,  whether  he 
ultimately  goes  or  not,  face  this  bothering  missionary  ques- 
tion before  he  decides  on  his  life  work.^* 

To  this  we  answer  unreservedly,  yes.  In  the  first  place 
it  is  obvious  on  reflection  that  if  everybody  took  the  attitude 
just  mentioned  there  would  be  no  missionaries  at  all,  and 
Jesus  certainly  laid  back  on  us  (Mark  l6  '^)  the  burden  of 
the  foreign  world  which  we  in  our  selfish  wilfulness  had  left 
to  him  alone  (Isaiah  53  ''').  Again,  many  careers  which  at  the 
start  appear  to  be  dangerous  and  disagreeable,  in  time  turn 
out  to  be  the  pleasantest  possible,  and  vice  versa.  Many  a 
man  who  has  merely  gratified  his  own  desires  in  the  choice 
of  his  career  confesses  after  the  lapse  of  years  that  he  has 
made  a  failure  of  it  all.  Clearly  then  we  have  omitted  some 
factor  in  our  discussion  of  the  layman's  work  and  ministry. 
What  is  this  factor? 


104  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

Study  X.    The  Necessity  for  Absolute  Surrender  of  Self 

SECOND  DAY 

God's  Will  may  be  Done  in  any  Profession,  but  Unless  the  Man  is  in 
That  Profession  by  God's  Appointment  it  will  not  be 

I  Cor.  7  '°'  '*,  12  ^''  ^8;  Rom.  1  ^' ' ;  John  4  ^\  5  ^\  6  ^\ 

In  order  to  do  God's  will  in  even  the  humblest  occupation 
— shoemaking,  for  example — a  man  must  be  there  by  God's 
appointment.  In  other  words  the  lawyer,  doctor,  teacher, 
merchant  as  well  as  the  clergyman  must  be  called  to  his  pro- 
fession. It  is  true  that  Paul  says  that  we  are  to  remain  in  our 
secular  callings,  but  men  fail  to  note  that  he  presupposes  that 
we  have  been  "called"  to  those  callings  (I  Cor.  7^*).  The 
eye  is  not  to  desire  to  be  the  ear  or  the  nose.  Why.'' 
Because  God  set  each  one  of  the  members  in  the  body  even  as 
it  pleased  him  (I  Cor.  12  ^^). 

Only  one  thing  can  give  a  man  complete  joy  and  power 
in  his  work.  That  one  thing  is  the  sure  conviction  that  he  is 
in  that  work — medicine,  law,  teaching,  business,  ministry, 
at  home  or  abroad — "called  of  God."  Nearly  every  letter  of 
Paul  begins  with  just  such  a  burning  conviction  about  himself. 
("Paul  called  to  be  an  apostle.  An  apostle  through  the  will 
of  God.  An  apostle  not  from  men  but  through  Jesus  Christ 
and  God.  An  apostle  of  Jesus  Christ  through  the  command- 
ment of  God."  Rom.  1  ^;  I  Cor.  1  ^;  II  Cor.  1  ^;  Gal.  1  ^; 
Eph.  1  1;  Col.  1  ^;  I  Tim.  1  ^ ;  II  Tim.  1  ^).  The  best  test 
a  man  can  put  to  himself  is  to  ask  and  to  answer  fairly  this 
question :  "Dare  I  assert  that  I  am  a  lawyer,  teacher,  business 
man,  doctor,  'not  from  men  but  through  Jesus  Christ — called 
of  God — according  to  the  commandment  of  God' .''" 

This  conviction  of  mission  which  brings  joy  and  power  can 
only  come  to  a  man  who  has  enlisted  with  no  reservations 
for  any  service  that  his  general  may  see  fit  to  assign  to  him, 
and  who  knows  that  he  has  received  a  particular  order  from 
that  commander  which  assigns  him  a  specific  task  to  do. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  106 

Study  X.     The  Necessity  for  Absolute  Surrender  of  Self 

THIRD  DAY 

The  Parallel  from  the  Enlistment  of  the  Soldier 

I  Tim.  6^2-^^  II  Tim.  2*;  Luke  9"'';  Heb.  11  \ 

No  parallel  illustrates  so  well  the  duty  of  the  true  Chris- 
tian in  this  matter  as  that  of  the  soldier.  When  the  soldier 
enlists,  he  does  not  make  his  choice  of  guard  duty,  camp  duty 
or  service  at  the  front,  but  he  pledges  his  willingness  to  do 
anything,  to  make  any  sacrifice,  to  give  his  life  if  need  be, 
whenever  and  wherever  his  commander  may  see  fit.  Now  as 
a  matter  of  fact  the  majority  of  soldiers  who  enlist  are  never 
called  upon  to  make  the  supreme  sacrifice  of  their  lives. 
Nine  tenths  receive  only  the  glory  and  the  spoils  at  the  end 
of  the  campaign.  But  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  when 
they  started  out  every  one  of  the  ten  tenths  should  have  been 
willing  to  make  this  sacrifice  had  it  been  necessary.  What 
would  an  army  ever  accomplish  whose  soldiers  said:  "We  will 
drill  and  parade  as  long  as  there  is  no  danger,  but  when  the 
enem}'^  appears  please  excuse  us".''  Such  men  are  no  more 
soldiers  than  sutlers,  camp  hangers-on. 

In  the  same  way  it  stands  to  reason  that  nine  tenths  of 
those  who  enlist  in  Jesus'  army  will  not  be  compelled  to 
make  supreme  sacrifices.  The  majority  must  work  in  routine 
paths.  They  will  share  his  glory  and  the  spoils  of  his  con- 
quests (peace,  art,  literature,  culture),  but  every  one  of  these 
nine  tenths  who  does  not  go  must  have  been  willing  to  go 
when  he  started  out  had  the  orders  come  from  the  commander. 
Otherwise  he  was  not  an  enlisted  soldier  in  the  army  of  Jesus. 
He  was  rather  a  sutler,  a  camp  hanger-on,  the  sort  of  man  of 
whom  John  speaks  (I  John  2  ^^),  "They  went  out  from  us  but 
they  were  not  of  us."  Luke  has  preserved  for  us  a  picture  of 
Jesus  enlisting  soldiers  for  his  army.  His  method,  which  has 
sometimes  been  characterized  as  cruel  (see  Study  V,  Fifth 
Day),  becomes  clear  and  is  seen  to  be  absolutely  just  when  we 


106  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

consider  the  matter  in  this  light  (Luke  9  ^^"*^).  No  soldier  on 
service  entangleth  himself  in  the  affairs  of  this  life — he  is 
always  ready  to  march  at  a  moment's  notice;  and  no  man  hav- 
ing put  hand  to  the  plough  and  turning  back  is  fit  for  the 
kingdom  of  God. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  107 


Study  X.     The  Necessity  for  Absolute  Surrender  of  Self 

FOURTH  DAY 

God  Does  not  Ask  all  Men  to  Make  the  Supreme  Sacrifice  or  to 
Endure  Great  Suffering  but  He  Requires  that  all  be  Willing  to 
do  so 

Mark  5  ^^'  ^\ 
John  7  ". 
Gen.  22  ^-''\ 

Here  is  the  matter  stated  in  its  simplest  terms.  God 
does  not  in  fact  ask  all  men  to  make  the  supreme  sacrifice  but 
he  requires  unconditionally  that  they  all  be  willing  to  do 
so.  The  story  of  Abraham  and  Isaac  teaches  this  truth  so 
vividly  that  little  further  explanation  is  necessary.  Read 
the  whole  account  (Gen.  22  ^'^^)  and  study  carefully  the  re- 
quirement of  God  and  the  attitude  of  Abraham. 

"Our  God  is  a  jealous  God.  He  will  be  either  Lord  of 
all  or  Lord  not  at  all."  John  R.  Mott. 

"A  heart  not  quite  subdued  to  God  is  an  imperfect  ele- 
ment in  which  his  will  can  never  live." 

Drummond:  The  Ideal  Life,  page  316. 


108  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

Study  X.     The  Necessity  for  Absolute  Surrender  of  Self 

FIFTH  DAY 

The  Spirit  of  the  Hero  and  of  the  Martyr  Needed  in  Every  Profession 
II  Cor.  11  23-27;  Eph.  6  ^"-2". 
Mark  8^^-^\  10  ^^' ^'> ;  Matt.  5  ""^^  10  ^«-3^  16^*;  Luke 

21  ^'. 

Heb.    12  1-*;    10  ^^-^^    13  ^2-";   John   12  2*,   15  ^«  f    (esp. 

V.  20). 

"It  is  the  lot  of  every  Christian  to  have  those  things 
happen  to  him  that  happened  to  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

Pascal. 

Beware  of  the  man  who  has  no  enemies.  He  is  a  time- 
server  with  his  weathervane  up  to  follow  every  wind  that 
blows.  Jesus  Christ  had  enemies.  Paul  had  enemies.  Henry 
Drummond  had  enemies.  Washington  and  Lincoln  had  ene- 
mies. Every  man  who  attacks  sin  either  by  word  or  exa,mple 
has  enemies.  God  and  mammon  do  not  go  together,  and  the 
fight  against  sin  in  one's  own  profession  will  furnish  the  moral 
substitute  for  actual  war  which  Professor  James  asserts  that 
the  young  men  of  the  present  day  need  if  they  are  to  remain 
strong  and  virile. 

A  man  may  have  enemies  without  being  an  enemy  to  a 
single  individual  in  the  world.  It  was  in  that  sense  that 
Jesus  and  Paul  and  Drummond  had  enemies.  To  be  an 
enemy  to  another  man  is  pagan;  but  to  have  enemies  may  be 
Christian.  We  are  not  responsible  for  our  enemies  but  for 
our  enmities.  In  regard  to  enmities  Jesus  gives  specific 
teaching  (Matt.  5  "^^  '%  Matt.  18  ^'-^";  Luke  12  ^«).  As  re- 
gards enemies  he  teaches  us  to  expect  and  rejoice  in  them 
(Matt.  5  ^-).  A  servant  is  not  greater  than  his  lord.  "If 
they  persecuted  me  they  will  also  persecute  you." 

Every  profession  today  needs  its  heroes  and  martyrs — 
the  teacher  who  will  battle  for  a  truth  against  adverse  public 
opinion  and  who  will  give  of  his  own  soul  experience  to  his 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  109 

pupils;  the  doctor  who  will  stand  against  illegal  practices; 
the  lawyer  who  refuses  to  distort  truths  to  win  his  case;  the 
merchant  who  will  not  drive  a  sharp  bargain;  the  statesman 
who  will  fight  against  corruption.  It  is  easy  enough  to  make 
a  feeble  protest  for  the  right  and  then  subside.  That  is  the 
coward's  method.  The  hero  "resists  unto  blood — striving 
against  sin."  Only  one  impetus  will  ever  inspire  a  man  to  do 
this  for  more  than  a  short  time.  It  is  the  sure  conviction 
that  he  is  a  soldier  on  duty  and  has  received  an  order  from 
his  commander  which  he  cannot  and  will  not  disobey  because 
he  is  an  enlisted  man. 


110  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

Study  X.     The  Necessity  for  Absolute  Surrender  of  Self 

SIXTH  DAY 

Enlist  without  Reservation  or  Condition  and  Await  Orders.     God  a 
Commander  in  Whom  His  Followers  can  Trust 


12 


I  Thess.  5^*;  I  Cor.  1  \  9'*-";  Rom.  4^1,  8^8, 
II  Tim.  1  ''  ^\  2  *'  ^^  Mark  10  ^s-  ^o.  Matt.  6  ^\ 

Luke  14  26.27,33.  Acts  5  29;  James  5^^;  I  John  5  ^ 

"I  dare  not  enlist  because  I  am  afraid  that,  although  the 
chances  are  overwhelmingly  against  it,  I  still  might  be  one 
out  of  the  one  tenth  whom  God  will  fix  upon  for  some  supreme 
sacrifice."  This  is  the  secret  thought  of  many  a  timid  heart, 
as  this  great  question  of  surrender  is  faced.  What  shall  we 
reply.''  Shall  those  of  us  who  have  found  our  places  in  the 
firing  line  taunt  with  cowardice  the  faltering  recruits .''  Never ! 
Such  a  thought  is  absolutely  natural  and  all  of  us  if  we  are 
honest  with  ourselves  have  had  just  the  same.  It  came  to 
Jesus  in  Gethsemane,  "O  my  Father,  if  it  be  possible  let  this 
cup  pass  from  me,"  and  it  is  the  lot  of  every  Christian  to 
have  those  things  happen  to  him  which  happened  to  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ. 

We  will  simply  call  attention  to  two  facts.  ( 1 )  God  will 
never  force  you  to  make  the  supreme  sacrifice  unless  you  are 
perfectly  willing  to  do  it;  in  other  words,  even  after  you  have 
enlisted  he  never  forces  you  by  driving.  He  does  not  come 
into  the  army  and  order  a  certain  company  to  march  to  cer- 
tain death  with  death  penalty  for  hesitation,  while  he  stays 
behind  and  watches  the  mancEuvre;  but  he  comes  and  says 
as  it  were,  "Those  of  the  army  who  will  follow  me  on  this 
dangerous  undertaking  step  forward  three  paces  from  the 
ranks."  In  Jesus'  army  the  ultra-dangerous  work  is  always 
done  by  the  freewill  volunteers  and  our  Leader  is  always  one 
of  the  company;  and  the  marvel  of  it  is — a  thing  which 
Napoleon  could  not  understand — he  always  has  men  enough 
for  his  work  and  to  spare. 

(2)  God  is  a  loving  Father  and  he  will  not  call  upon  you 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  111 

to  make  unnecessary  sacrifices.  It  pains  him  more  to  see  his 
children  in  suffering  than  it  does  them  to  experience  it.  He 
is  a  commander  in  whom  his  followers  may  trust.  Do  not 
fear  to  enlist  without  reservation  or  conditions  and  await 
orders.  What  those  specific  orders  for  each  individual  are 
and  how  one  may  learn  them  with  exactness  is  the  subject  of 
the  next  nine  studies. 

"When  God  puts  down  his  great  will  beside  me  telling 
me  to  do  it,  he  puts  down  just  beside  it  as  great  a  thing,  his 
love.  And  as  my  soul  trembles  at  the  fearfulness  of  will,  love 
comes  with  its  calm  omnipotence  and  draws  it  to  himself; 
then  takes  my  timid  will  and  twines  it  around  his,  till  mine 
is  fierce  with  passion  to  serve,  and  strong  to  do  his  will.  Just 
as  if  some  mighty  task  were  laid  to  an  infant's  hand  and  the 
engine-grasp  of  a  giant  strengthened  it  with  his  own.  Where 
God's  law  is,  is  God's  love.  Look  at  law — it  withers  your 
very  soul  with  its  stern  inexorable  face.  But  look  at  love  or 
look  at  God's  will,  which  means  look  at  love's  will,  and  you 
are  reassured  and  your  heart  grows  strong." 

Drummond  :  The  Ideal  Life,  page  375. 


113  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  X.     The  Necessity  for  Absolute  Surrender  of  Self 

SEVENTH  DAY— REVIEW 

1.  Does  God  always  want  a  man  to  go  where  the  need  is 
greatest  ? 

2.  Cite  instances  of  men  who  have  taken  up  what  they 
supposed  to  be  disagreeable  tasks  and  afterwards  found  the 
greatest  joy  in  them. 

3.  Cite  instances  of  the  reverse — supposed  agreeable 
tasks  turning  out  to  be  delusions. 

4.  Can  a  life  lived  in  accordance  with  God's  will  ever 
be  a  failure?  (See  TV.  W.  Story,  Poems,  Vol.  II.,  page  177, 
"lo  Victis.") 

5.  Is  a  life  in  which  all  but  one  thing  is  surrendered  a 
Christian  life?     Can  it  ever  be  a  happy  life?   (Mark  10^^.) 

6.  Is  the  old  idea  that  each  son  should  follow  his 
father's  trade  possible  under  the  Christian  dispensation?  Is 
this  the  reason  why  the  Jewish  religion  of  the  Old  Testament 
was  never  a  missionary  religion? 

7.  Why  should  any  man  be  afraid  to  face  the  missionary 
question  or  to  listen  to  missionary  addresses? 

8.  Can  a  man  near  middle  life,  who  becomes  convinced 
that  he  entered  his  profession  when  God  was  calling  him  to 
some  other,  get  a  new  grip  on  his  work,  and,  indeed,  turn  it 
into  a  divine  calling?     (I  Cor.  7  ^°"",) 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  US 


We  have  now  reached  a  point  in  our  studies  which  is,  in 
a  very  true  sense,  a  parting  of  the  ways.  Hitherto  the  truths 
which  we  have  examined  have  been  simple  intellectual  propo- 
sitions— a  statement  of  the  Christian  conception  of  God's  plan 
for  the  world  and  for  the  individual,  and  of  the  sort  of  de- 
cision which  God  requires  of  his  followers.  The  remaining 
studies — on  the  Finding  Out  of  God's  Will  by  each  individual 
and  on  the  Issues  of  Obedience — concern  truths  which  must 
primarily  be  spiritually  apprehended  by  the  will,  not  accepted 
merely  as  intellectual  propositions  by  the  mind.  He  who,  at 
this  point,  before  entering  upon  the  further  studies  will 
dedicate  his  life  absolutely  and  unreservedly  to  God — and 
mean  it — to  do  God's  will  promptly  and  without  conditions, 
no  matter  where  it  may  lead,  as  soon  as  it  shall  be  clearly 
revealed,  shall  know  of  the  teaching  that  follows — at  least  of 
the  Scripture  passages — whether  it  be  of  God  or  whether  the 
various  teachers  speak  of  themselves.  He  who  continues  the 
studies  without  this  decision  may  find  some  things  that  are 
interesting,  even  convincing,  but  the  subject  as  a  whole  will  be 
as  much  of  an  enigma  to  him  as  before.  It  will  have  no  part 
in  his  life  and  he  will  not  know. 


114  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  your  answer  to  the  request  for  decision  on  the  pre- 
ceding page  in  the  light  of  the  following  paragraph: 

"In  nearly  all  the  important  transactions  of  life,  indeed 
in  all  transactions  which  have  relation  to  the  future,  we  have 
to  take  a  leap  into  the  dark.  If  we  waver  ....  that  too  is  a 
choice  ....  we  stand  on  a  mountain  pass  in  the  midst  of 
whirling  snow  and  blinding  mist,  through  which  we  get 
glimpses  now  and  then  of  paths  which  may  be  deceptive.  If 
we  stand  still  we  shall  be  frozen  to  death.  If  we  take  the 
wrong  road,  we  shall  be  dashed  to  pieces.  We  do  not  cer- 
tainly know  whether  there  is  any  right  one.  What  must  we 
do.''  'Be  strong  and  of  a  good  courage.'  Act  for  the  best, 
hope  for  the  best,  and  take  what  comes.  Above  all,  let  us 
dream  no  dreams,  and  tell  no  lies,  but  go  our  way,  wherever 
it  may  lead,  with  our  eyes  open  and  our  heads  erect.  If  death 
ends  all,  we  cannot  meet  it  better.  If  not  let  us  enter  whatever 
may  be  the  next  scene  like  honest  men  with  no  sophistry  in  our 
mouths,  and  no  masks  on  our  faces." 

Stephen:  Liberty,  Equality,  Fraternity  (1882),  pages 
331,  333.  (Quoted  in  James:  The  Will  to  Believe, 
page  31.) 


C.    THE  FINDING  OUT  OF  GOD'S  WILL 

study  XI.  Willingness  to  Do  God's  Will  the  Necessary  Con- 
dition for  Knowledge  of  It. 

Study  XII.     The  Universal  Will  of  God  for  All  Men. 

Study  XIII.  The  Particular  Will  of  God  for  Each  Individual 
Man. 

Study  XIV.  How  to  Find  Out  the  Particular  Will  of  God. 
(a)   The  Views  of  Modern  Religious  Leaders. 

Study  XV.  How  to  Find  Out  the  Particular  Will  of  God  (con- 
cluded),    (b)  The  Fourfold  Touchstone  of  Jesus  and  the  Apostles. 

Study  XVI.  The  Fourfold  Touchstone,  (a)  The  First  Test- 
Purity. 

Study  XVII.  The  Fourfold  Touchstone  (continued),  (b)  The 
Second  Test — Honesty. 

Study  XVIII.  The  Fourfold  Touchstone  (continued),  (c)  The 
Third  Test — Unselfishness. 

Study  XIX.  The  Fourfold  Touchstone  (concluded),  (d)  The 
Fourth  Test— Love. 


STUDY   XI 

Willingness  to  Do  God's  Will  the  Necessary  Condition  for  Knowledge 
of  It 

"If  any  man  willeth  to  do  his  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  teaching, 
whether  it  is  of  God,  or  whether  I  speak  of  myself."        — John  7: 17. 

"Why  do  ye  not  understand  my  speech?  Even  because  ye  cannot 
hear  my  word."  — John  8:43. 

"And  none  of  the  wicked  shall  understand:  but  they  that  are 
wise  shall  understand."  — Daniel  12: 10. 

"Now  the  natural  man  receiveth  not  the  things  of  the  Spirit  of 
God:  for  they  are  foolishness  unto  him;  and  he  cannot  know  them, 
because  they  are  spiritually  judged.  But  he  tha^  is  spiritual  judgeth 
all  things,  and  he  himself  is  judged  of  no  man."       — I  Cor.  S:14,  15. 

"For  I  will  give  you  a  mouth  and  wisdom,  which  all  your  adver- 
saries shaU  not  be  able  to  withstand  or  to  gainsay."    — Luke  21:15. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Robertson,  F.  W.     Sermons.     Second  Series,  No.  YII. — "Obedi- 
ence the  Organ  of  Spiritual  Knowledge." 

Drummond.     The  Ideal  Life — "How  to  Know  the  Will  of  God." 
Peahody,  F.  O.    Jesus  Christ  and  the  Christian  Character,  pages 
99-102. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  119 


Study  XI.     Willingness  to  Do  God's  Will   the   Necessary   Condition 
for  Knowledge  of  It 

FIRST  DAY 

God's  Will  may  be  Known,  not  only  for  the  Rare  Great  Occasions, 
but  for  the  Ordinary  Circumstances  of  Life 

I  Cor.  4  ^^;  Acts  2  ^^  18  '\  22  ^*',  James  4  ^^;  Heb.  13  *' ; 
John  8  29. 

"There  is  a  will  for  where — in  what  place,  viz.  in  this 
town  or  another  town — I  am  to  become  like  God  as  well  as 
that  I  am  to  become  like  God.  There  is  a  will  for  where  I 
am  to  be  and  what  I  am  to  be  and  what  I  am  to  do  tomorrow. 
There  is  a  will  for  what  scheme  I  am  to  take  up,  and  what 
work  I  am  to  do  for  Christ,  and  what  business  arrangements 
to  make  and  what  money  to  give  away.  This  is  God's  private 
will  for  me,  for  every  step  I  take,  for  the  path  of  life  along 

which  he  points  my  way;   God's   will   for  my   career 

Every  day,  indeed,  and  many  times  a  day  the  question  rises 
in  a  hundred  practical  forms,  'What  is  the  will  of  God  for 
me?'  What  is  the  will  of  God  for  me  today,  just  now,  for 
the  next  step,  for  this  arrangement  and  for  that,  and  this 
amusement,  and  this  projected  work  for  Christ?  For  all 
these  he  [the  Christian]  feels  that  he  must  consult  the  will  of 
God ;  and  that  God  has  a  will  for  him  in  all  such  things,  and 
that  it  must  be  possible  somehow  to  know  what  that  will  is, 
is  not  only  a  matter  of  hope  but  a  point  in  his  doctrine  and 
creed." 

Drummond:  The  Ideal  Life,  pages  SOJ^.,  308. 


130  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

Study  XL     Willingness  to  Do  God's' Will  the   Necessary   Conditioa 
for  Knowledge  of  It 

SECOND  DAY 

God's  Will  is  not  a  Mysterious  and  Obscure  Thing  Impossible  to 
Comprehend.  Any  Man  may  Find  it  out  and  Furthermore,  We 
are  All  Bidden  to  do  so 

[Ps.  25  «] ;  Rom.  12  ^  Col.  1  »;  Eph.  1  \  5  ". 
Matt.  6",  11  ^''''^;  John  7 '^ 

"You  have  thought  about  the  will  of  God  and  read  and 
thought,  and  thought  and  read,  and  you  have  come  to  this  con- 
clusion that  the  will  of  God  is  a  very  mysterious  thing  .... 
which  some  people  may  have  revealed  to  them  but  does  not 

seem  in  any  way  possible  to  you One  or  two  special 

occasions,  indeed,  you  recall,  when  you  thought  you  were  near 
the  will  of  God,  but  they  must  have  been  special  interpositions 
on  God's  part.  He  does  not  show  his  will  every  day  like  that ; 
once  or  twice  only  in  a  lifetime,  that  is  as  much  of  this  high 
experience  as  one  ever  dare  expect. 

"Now  of  course  ....  it  is  clearly  no  use  going  on  to 
find  out  what  God's  will  is  if  the  thing  is  impossible.  If  this 
experience  is  correct  and  we  cannot  know  God's  will  for  the 
mystery  of  it,  we  may  as  well  give  up  the  ideal  life  at  once. 
But  if  you  examined  this  experience  even  cursorily,  you  would 
find  how  far  away  from  the  point  it  was It  is  some- 
thing worse  than  unreasonable  ....  to  say  that  we  think  it 
hopeless  even  to  know  God's  will.  On  the  contrary,  indeed, 
there  is  a  strong  presumption  that  we  should  find  it  out.  [Jesus 
says  "any  man"  may  know  (John  7").  Paul  says  we  must 
find  it  out;  it  is  our  duty  (Eph.  5  ^^.J  For  if  it  is  so  im- 
portant a  thing  that  the  very  end  of  life  is  involved  in  it,  it 
would  be  absurd  to  imagine  that  God  should  keep  us  even  the 
least  in  the  dark  as  to  what  his  will  may  mean.  And  this 
presumption  is  changed  into  a  certainty  when  we  balance  our 
minds  ....  on  the  terms  of  this  text,  'The  God  of  our  fathers 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  121 

hath  chosen  thee  that  thou  shouldest  know  his  will.'  It  is 
not  simply  a  matter  of  presumption,  it  is  a  matter  of  election. 
....  We  are  called  to  know  his  will. 

"How  are  you  to  know  this  secret  will  of  God?  It  is  a 
great  question.  We  cannot  touch  it  now.  Let  this  suffice.  It 
can  be  known.  It  can  be  known  to  you.  The  steps  of  a  good 
man  are  ordered  by  the  Lord.  'I  will  guide  thee  with  mine 
eye.'  Unto  the  upright  in  heart  he  shall  cause  light  to  arise 
in  darkness.  This  is  not  mysticism,  no  visionary's  dream.  It 
is  not  to  drown  the  reason  with  enthusiasm's  airy  hope  or  su- 
persede the  word  of  God  with  fanaticism's  blind  caprice.  No, 
it  is  not  there.  It  is  what  Christ  said,  'The  sheep  hear  his 
voice,  and  he  calleth  his  own  sheep  by  name  and  leadeth 
them.'  " 

Deummond:  Ibid.,  pages  264-266,  282. 


122  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

Study  XL     Willingness  to  Do  God's  Will  the   Necessary   Condition 
for  Knowledge  of  It 

THIRD  DAY 

The  Failure  to  Understand  God's  Will  due  to  the  Employment  of 
Wrong,  or  at  Best  Only  the  Secondary  and  Contributory,  Instru* 
ments  of  Spiritual  Apprehension 

I  Cor.  1  18-31^  2  1-16.  II  Cor.  4  ^-S;  John  8  *»;  I  John  4  '• «. 

"Jews  ask  for  signs  [appeal  to  the  emotions^  and  Greeks 
seek  after  wisdom  [appeal  to  the  intellect]  but  we  preach 
Christ  crucified  [appeal  to  the  will],  unto  Jews  a  stumbling- 
block  and  unto  the ,  Gentiles  foolishness,  but  unto  them  that 
are  called,  both  Jews  and  Greeks,  Christ  the  power  of  God 
and  the  wisdom  of  God."     (I  Cor.  1  "-2*.) 

I.  There  are  many  instruments  for  finding  out  God's  will. 
"It  may  simply  be  affirmed  that  there  are  a  number  of  instru- 
ments for  finding  out  God's  will.  One  of  them  [the  human 
will]  is  a  very  great  instrument,  so  far  surpassing  all  the  rest 
in  accuracy  that  there  may  be  said  to  be  but  one  which  has 
never  been  known  to  fail." 

II.  The  secondary  or  contributory  instruments  which 
often  fail. 

"The  others  are  smaller  and  clumsier,  much  less  deli- 
cate indeed,  and  often  fail.  They  often  fail  to  come 
within  sight  of  the  will  of  God  at  all,  and  are  so  far  astray 
at  other  times  as  to  mistake  some  other  thing  for  it.  Still 
they  are  instruments,  and  notwithstanding  their  defects  have 
a  value  by  themselves,  and  when  the  greater  instrument 
employs  their  humbler  powers  to  second  its  attempts,  they 
immediately  become  as  keen  and  unerring  as  itself." 

(a)  Reason.  "God  is  taking  your  life  and  character 
through  a  certain  process,  for  example.     He  is  running  your 

career  along  a  certain  chain  of  events It  is  God's  will 

for  you  to  use  this  thought  and  to  elevate  it  through  regions 
of  consecration  into  faith." 

(b)  Experience.    "There  are  many  paths  in  life  which 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  133 

we  all  tread  more  than  once.     God's  light  was  by  us  when 

we   walked   there    first But    the    next   time  ....  he 

knew  the  side  lights  should  be  burning  still  and  let  us  walk 
alone." 

(c)  Circumstance.  "God  closes  things  around  us  till 
our  alternatives  are  all  reduced  to  one.  That  one,  if  we  must 
act,  is  probably  the  will  of  God  just  then." 

(d)  Advice  of  others.  Take  the  advice  of  others  freely — 
the  advice  of  a  non-Christian  may  have  God's  leading  in  it; 
but  never  regard  such  advice  as  final.  Jesus  often  disregarded 
the  advice  of  others. 

(e)  Welfare  of  others.  As  a  general  thing  we  should 
guide  our  conduct  by  its  effect  on  "the  other  fellow"  but  not 
always.  Jesus  often  disregarded  the  apparent  welfare  of 
others. 

(f)  Example  to  others.  Generally  a  safe  guide  but  not 
always.  Jesus  often  disregarded  the  effect  of  his  example  on 
others. 

These  secondary  instruments  "if  not  strong  enough 
always  to  discover  what  God's  will  is,  are  not  too  feeble  often- 
times to  determine  what  it  is  not"  but  not  always. 

Drummond:  The  Ideal  Life,  pages  308,  309. 

Astronomy  is  one  of  the  most  daring  sciences  which  the 
human  mind  has  ever  formulated.  But  it  must  never  be  for- 
gotten that  without  another  organ — that  of  sight — it  would 
never  have  been  possible.  Had  mankind  been  born  blind  we 
should  never  have  had  astronomy,  and  anyone  who  had  sug- 
gested such  an  idea  would  probably  have  been  laughed  to 
scorn.  But  once  granted  the  primary  organ  of  sight,  the 
secondary  organ  of  reason  has  been  able  to  build  up  the  whole 
marvelous  system. 

Once  granted  the  primary  organ  of  spiritual  apprehen- 
sion, by  which  he  saw  God,  Paul  was  able  to  reason  out  with 
his  secondary  instrument  the  grandest  system  of  theology 
which  the  world  has  seen.  But  the  latter  organ,  as  in  the 
case  of  astronomy^  was  helpless  without  the  former. 


184  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  XL     Willingness  to  Do  God's  Will  the  Necessary  Condition 
tor  Knowledge  of  It 

FOURTH  DAY 

The  Limits  of  Criticism  and  Reasoning  Processes  as  Instruments  of 
Spiritual  Apprehension 

Acts  18  2*-28. 

"The  geometer  might  as  well  expect  to  solve  his  problems 
by  the  function  of  smell  as  a  responsible  soul  to  find  God  by 
the  understanding." 

Bushnell:  The  New  Life,  page  182. 

See  Phillips  Brooks:  The  Candle  of  the  Lord.  Hugh 
Black:  "The  Paralysis  of  Criticism,"  Outlook,  March  17, 
1906. 

If  the  mind  were  the  final  means  of  apprehending  God 
we  should  be  reduced  at  once  to  the  position  of  Cicero  with 
reference  t(vthe  Roman  religion — that  only  the  intellectually 
gifted  can  be  saved.  Inasmuch  as  intellectual  brilliance  is 
largely  a  matter  of  education  or  inheritance,  and  this  in  turn 
is  often  a  matter  of  chance,  such  an  ordering  of  the  world 
would  involve  great  injustice.  In  the  passage  quoted  above 
from  Acts  the  case  of  Apollos  shows  clearly  that  spiritual  ap- 
prehension cannot  depend  upon  intellect  alone.  It  also  demon- 
strates the  limits  of  a  brilliant  intellect  until  steered  by  a  con- 
secrated will.  Intellect  alone  was  able  to  make  small  progress. 
But  the  combination  of  consecration  plus  intellect  was  invin- 
cible. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  185 

Study  XI.     Willingness  to  Do  God's  Will   the   Necessary  Condition 
for  Knowledge  of  It 

FIFTH  DAY 

The  Human  Will  the  Organ  of  Spiritual  Knowledge 

John  7 '\ 

"The  one  great  instrument  which  uses  them  [the  second- 
ary instruments]  in  turn  ....  and  which  supplements  their 
discoveries  or  even  supplants  them  if  it  choose  by  its  own 
superior  light  and  might  and  right  ....  is  obedience. 
Obedience,  as  it  is  sometimes  expressed,  is  the  organ  of 
spiritual  knowledge.  As  the  eye  is  the  organ  of  physical 
sight;  the  mind  of  intellectual  sight;  so  the  organ  of  spiritual 
vision  is  this  strange  power  obedience." 

Drummond:  The  Ideal  Life,  page  SIO. 

Robertson  was  the  first  to  apprehend  this  truth  in 
modern  times,  and  he  coined  the  phrase,  "Obedience  the 
Organ  of  Spiritual  Knowledge."  Drummond  was  keen 
enough  to  see  that  Jesus  did  not  say  this  and  that  there  is 
a  contradiction  in  Robertson's  expression.     He  wrote: — 

"It  appears  almost  as  if  a  contradiction  were  involved. 
To  know  God's  will  is  as  much  as  to  say  do  God's  will.  But 
how  are  we  to  do  God's  will  until  we  know  it?  To  know 
it,  that  is  the  very  dilemma  we  are  in.  And  it  seems  no  way  out 
of  it  to  say,  Do  it  and  you  shall  know  it.  We  want 
to  know  it  in  order  to  do  it  and  now  we  are  told  to  do  it  in 
order  to  know  it." 

Drummond:  Ibid.,  pages  312,  SIS. 

Drummond  pointed  out  that  Jesus  did  not  say  if  any 
man  do  he  shall  know — this  would  lead  to  blind  fanaticism, 
going  ahead  without  orders — but  if  any  man  be  willing  to  do 
he  shall  know. 

"The  being  willing  comes  first,  and  then  the  knowing; 
and  thereafter  the  doing  may  follow:  the  doing,  that  is  to  say, 
if  the  will  has  been  made  sufficiently  clear  to  proceed." 

Drummond:  Ibid.,  page  SIS. 


126  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

We  therefore  revise  Robertson's  statement  to  read — 
Willingness  to  Do  God's  Will  the  Necessary  Condition 
for  Knowledge  of  It. 

Just  as  a  man  who  will  not  open  or  yield  his  eyes  to  a 
beautiful  picture,  will  not  see;  just  as  a  man  who  will  not 
open  or  yield  his  mind  to  a  thought,  will  not  understand;  so 
a  man  who  will  not  open  or  yield  his  will  to  God's  will,  will 
not  know,  or  see  spiritually.  The  completely  surrendered  or 
open  human  will  is  the  means  of  highest  knowledge. 

"To  be  willing  is  a  rarer  grace  than  to  be  doing  the  will 
of  God.  For  he  who  is  willing  may  sometimes  have  nothing 
to  do,  and  must  only  be  willing  to  wait;  and  it  is  easier  to 
be  doing  God's  will  than  to  be  willing  to  have  nothing  to  do — 
it  is  easier  far  to  be  working  for  Christ  than  it  is  to  be 
willing  to  cease.  No,  there  is  nothing  rarer  in  the  world 
today  than  the  truly  willing  soul,  and  there  is  nothing  more 
worth  coveting  than  the  will  to  do  God's  will.  There  is  no 
grander  possession  for  any  Christian  life  than  the  trans- 
parently simple  mechanism  of  a  sincerely  obeying  heart." 

Drummond:  Ibid,,  page  319. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  127 

Study  XI.     Willingness  to  Do  God's  Will  the   Necessary   Condition 
for  Knowledge  of  It 

SIXTH  DAY 

"He  That  is  Willing  Shall  Know" 

A  practical  case  to  illustrate.  The  German  law  requires 
that  every  foreigner  entering  a  city  must  be  announced  to 
the  city  police  by  his  landlord  within  six  days  after  arriving. 
The  landlord  alone  is  responsible  for  this  announcing  and  if 
he  neglects  to  do  it  he  is  heavily  fined.  Suppose  the  foreigner 
stays  four  weeks  and  when  he  is  ready  to  go  the  landlord 
comes  and  privately  says  to  him:  "When  you  come  to  the 
next  city  don't  say  that  you  spent  four  weeks  here;  just  say 
that  you  have  been  traveling  all  the  time.  I  neglected  to 
announce  you.  I  saved  fifty  cents  for  myself  by  so  doing.  If 
you  let  it  be  known  I  shall  be  heavily  fined." 

The  foreigner  is  in  a  decidedly  embarrassing  position. 
Shall  he  not  lie  to  save  his  friend.''  How  shall  he  know  God's 
will.^     Suppose  he  consults  the  secondary  instruments. 

Reason  says,  Go  ahead  and  deceive — don't  make  so  much 
fuss  over  a  little  matter. 

Experience  says,  It  is  better  not  to  get  mixed  up  in  a 
foreign  police  case. 

Circumstance  says.  It  is  the  only  way  out  of  the  hole, 
you  must  lie. 

Advice  of  others  says.  Lie  every  time,  we  do  it  regularly. 

Welfare  of  others  says.  You  have  no  right  to  involve  this 
landlord  who  has  done  so  much  to  make  it  comfortable  for 
you.  It  is  a  case  of  conflict  of  duties  and  the  highest  love 
requires  that  you  lie. 

Example  to  others  says.  You  don't  want  to  get  the  repu- 
tation of  selfishly  sticking  to  a  principle  to  save  your  own 
little  mean  soul  when  the  financial  welfare  of  another  man  is 
concerned. 

The  Christian,  however,  is  not  satisfied  with  any  one  of 
these.  By  himself  alone  he  decides:  "I  will  tell  the  exact  truth 
if  asked,  no  matter  what  the  result  is.     Truth  I  know  to  be 


188  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

God's  will.  If  my  friend  gets  fined  I  will  pay  his  fine  for 
him."  Unselfishness  is  God's  will.  In  other  words  he  "w 
willing"  to  make  any  sacrifice  personal  or  otherwise  for 
God's  will.  When  he  has  made  this  decision  he  goes  forward 
in  perfect  peace;  and  before  long  God  reveals  some  way  out 
of  the  difficulty  which  he  recognizes  as  the  perfectly  right 
one.    And  he  "knows/' 

"Let  us  but  get  our  hearts  in  position  for  knowing  the 
will  of  God — only  let  us  be  willing  to  know  God's  will  in 
our  hearts  that  we  may  do  God's  will  in  our  lives,  and  we 
shall  raise  no  question  as  to  how  this  will  may  come,  and 
feel  no  fears  in  case  the  heavenly  light  should  go." 

Drummond:  Ibid.,  page  319. 

"Who  of  us  has  not  bowed  his  will  to  some  supreme  law, 
accepted  some  obedience  as  the  atmosphere  in  which  his  life 
must  live,  and  found  at  once  that  his  mind's  darkness  turned 
to  light  and  that  many  a  hard  question  found  its  answer." 

Brooks  :  The  Influence  of  Jesus,  page  231. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  129 


Study  XI.     Willingness  to  Do  God's  Will  the   Necessary   Condition 
for  Knowledge  of  It 

SEVENTH  DAY— REVIEW 

1.  Is  it  true  that  if  any  man  be  willing  he  shall  know? 
How  much  intellect  is  necessary  to  grasp  spiritual  truth? 

2.  Where  does  Jesus  teach  that  God  takes  an  interest 
in  even  the  smallest  details  of  our  life? 

3.  Why  is  the  impression  prevalent  that  God's  will  is 
a  mystery? 

4.  In  how  far  are  reason,  experience  and  circumstance 
safe  guides  to  a  knowledge  of  God's  will?  Are  we  some- 
times called  upon  to  do  the  irrational  thing?  the  seemingly 
irrational  thing?  an  entirely  new  and  untried  thing? 

5.  When  all  alternatives  seem  to  be  reduced  to  one,  is 
that  one  surely  God's  will?     May  there  still  be  others? 

6.  When  did  Jesus  disregard  the  advice  of  others? 

7.  When  did  Jesus  disregard  the  apparent  welfare  of 
others  ? 

8.  When  did  Jesus  disregard  his  example  to  others? 

9.  Were  the  lonely  nights  which  Jesus  spent  in  the 
mountains  times  when  he  was  getting  himself  ready  to  obey  ? 

10.  Does  willingness  always  require  immediate  action? 
(Does  enlisting  necessarily  presuppose  immediate  fighting?) 


130  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


TO  FIND  OUT  GOD'S  WILL 

1.  Pray. 

2.  Think. 

3.  Talk  to  wise  people,  but  do  not  regard  their  decision 
as  final. 

4.  Beware  of  the  bias  of  your  own  will  but  do  not  be 
too  much  afraid  of  it  (God  never  unnecessarily  thwarts  a  man's 
nature  and  likings,  and  it  is  a  mistake  to  think  that  his  will 
is  in  the  line  of  the  disagreeable). 

5.  Meanwhile  do  the  next  thing  (for  doing  God's  will  in 
small  things  is  the  best  preparation  for  knowing  it  in  great 
things). 

6.  When  decision  and  action  are  necessary,  go  ahead. 

7.  Never  reconsider  the  decision  when  it  is  finally  acted 
upon; and 

8.  You  will  probably  not  find  out  till  afterwards,  perhaps 
long  afterwards,  that  you  have  been  led  at  all. 

Smith  :  The  Life  of  Henry  Drummond,  pages  127, 128, 


STUDY    XIT 

The  Universal  Will  of  God  (or  All  Men.     "God's  Will  for  the  World 
— for  Character" 

"Ye  therefore  shall  be  perfect,  as  your  heavenly  Father  is  per- 
fect." —Matt.  5:48. 

"Blessed  be  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who 
hath  blessed  us  with  every  spiritual  blessing  ....  making  known 
unto  us  the  mystery  of  his  will,  according  to  his  good  pleasure  which 
he  purposed  in  hira  unto  a  dispensation  of  the  fulness  of  the  times, 
to  sum  up  all  things  in  Christ."  — Eph.  1:3,9,10. 

"And  I  saw  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth:  for  the  first  heaven 
and  the  first  earth  are  passed  away;  and  the  sea  is  no  more.  And 
I  saw  the  holy  city,  new  Jerusalem,  coming  down  out  of  heaven 
from  God,  made  ready  as  a  bride  adorned  for  her  husband.  And  I 
heard  a  great  voice  out  of  the  throne  saying,  Behold,  the  tabernacle 
of  God  is  with  men,  and  he  shall  dwell  with  them,  and  they  shaU  be 
his  peoples,  and  God  himself  shall  be  with  them,  and  be  their  God; 
and  he  shall  wipe  away  every  tear  from  their  eyes;  and  death  shall 
be  no  more;  neither  shall  there  be  mourning,  nor  crying,  nor  pain, 
any  more:  the  first  things  are  passed  away.  And  he  that  sitteth  on 
the  throne  said,  Behold,  I  make  all  things  new."  — Rev.  21:1-5. 

"For  the  kingdom  of  God  is  not  eating  and  drinking,  but  right- 
eousness and  peace  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Spirit."         — Rom.  14:17. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Drvmmond.    The  Ideal  Life— "What  is  God's  Will?*' 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  13S 


Study  XII.     The  Universal  Will  of  God  for  All  Men 

FIRST  DAY 

The  Universal  and  the  Particular  Will  of  God 

Universal.    Acts  17  ^*-" ;  Isaiah  44  '^-^s. 
Particular.     Acts  22  ^'*-",  13  ^-. 

"There  is  a  part  of  God's  will  which  everyone  may 
know  [so  far  as  it  has  been  revealed] — a  universal  part; 
[there  is  also]  a  part  no  one  knows  but  you — a  particular 
part.    A  universal  part  for  everyone:  A  particular  part  for 

the  individual There  is  God's  will  for  the  world  and 

God's  will  for  the  individual.  There  is  God's  will  written 
on  tables  of  stone  for  all  the  world  to  read.  There  is  God's 
will  carved  in  sacred  hieroglyphic  which  no  one  reads  but 
you.  There  is  God's  will  rolling  in  thunder  over  the  life  of 
universal  man.  There  is  God's  will  dropped  softly  on  the 
believer's  ear  in  angel  whispers  or  the  still  small  voice  of 
God." 

DauMMOND:  The  Ideal  Life,  pages  268,  278. 


134  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  Xn.     The  Universal  Will  of  God  for  All  Men 

SECOND  DAY 

The  Entire  Universal  Will  of  God  for  the  World  Cannot  as  yet  be 
Fully  Known,  Since,  in  the  Process  of  Evolution,  it  has  not  yet 
been  Fully  Disclosed.  We  may  only  Know  that  Part  of  it 
Which  has  been  Revealed  in  Nature  and  through  History  up  to 
the  Present  Day 

I  Cor.  13  ^-;  Phil.  3  ";  Matt.  13  ";  I  John  3  -. 

"Through  the  ages  one  increasing  purpose  runs." 

Tennyson:  Locksley  Hall. 

"In  one  sense,  of  course,  no  man  can  know  the  will  of 
God,  even  as  in  one  sense  no  man  can  know  God  himself. 
God's  will  is  a  great  and  infinite  mystery — a  thing  of  mighty 
mass  and  volume,  which  can  no  more  be  measured  out  to 
hungry  souls  in  human  sentences  than  the  eternal  knowledge 
of  God  or  the  boundless  love  of  Christ." 

Deummond:  Ibid,,  page  267. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  135 

Study  XII.     The  Universal  Will  of  God  for  All  Men 

THIRD  DAY 

God's   Revelation  of   His  Universal   Will   for  the  World  in  Nature. 
"  The  Physical  Contents  of  God's  Will  " 

Matt.  6  2«. 

"There  is  a  part  of  God's  will  which  every  one  may  know. 
It  is  written  in  divine  characters  in  two  sacred  books,  which 
every  man  may  read.  The  one  of  them  is  the  Bible,  the 
other  is  Nature.  The  Bible  is  God's  will  in  words,  in 
formal  thoughts,  in  grace.  Nature  is  God's  will  in  matter 
and  tissue  and  force.  Nature  is  not  often  considered  a  part 
of  God's  will,  but  it  is  a  part,  and  a  great  part,  and 
the  first  part.  And  perhaps  one  reason  why  some  never 
know  the  second  is  because  they  yield  no  full  obedience 
to  the  first.  God's  law  of  progress  is  from  the  lower  to  the 
higher ;  and  scant  obedience  at  the  beginning  of  his  will  means 
disobedience  with  the  rest.  The  laws  of  nature  are  the  will 
of  God  for  our  bodies.  As  there  is  a  will  of  God  for  oui 
higher  nature — the  moral  laws — as  emphatically  is  there 
a  will  of  God  for  the  lower — the  natural  laws.  If  you  would 
know  God's  will  in  the  higher,  therefore,  you  must  begin  with 
God's  will  in  the  lower,  which  simply  means  this — that  if  you 
want  to  live  the  ideal  life  you  must  begin  with  the  ideal  body. 
The  law  of  moderation,  the  law  of  sleep,  the  law  of  regularity, 
the  law  of  exercise,  the  law  of  cleanliness — this  is  the  law  or 
will  of  God  for  you.  This  is  the  first  law,  the  beginning  of 
his  will  for  you.  And  if  we  are  ambitious  to  get  on  to  do 
God's  will  in  the  higher  reaches,  let  us  respect  it  as  much 
in  the  lower ;  for  there  may  be  as  much  of  God's  will  in  minor 
things,  as  much  of  God's  will  in  taking  good  bread  and 
pure  water,  as  in  keeping  good  conscience  or  living  a  pure 
life.  Who  ever  heard  of  gluttony  doing  God's  will,  or  laziness, 
or  uncleanness,  or  the  man  who  was  careless  and  wanton  of 
natural  life?  Let  a  man  disobey  God  in  these,  and 
you  have  no  certainty  that   he  has   any  true   principle   for 


136  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

obeying  God  in  anything  else:  for  God's  will  does  not  only 
run  into  the  church  and  the  prayer  meeting  and  the  higher 
chambers  of  the  soul,  but  into  the  common  rooms  at  home 
down  to  the  wardrobe  and  larder  and  cellar,  and  into  the 
bodily  frame  down  to  blood  and  muscle  and  brain." 

Ibid. J  pages  268, 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  13T 

Study  XII.     The  Universal  Will  of  God  for  All  Men 

FOURTH  DAY 

God's  Revelation  of  His  Universal  Will  for  the  World  in  Jesus,  the 
Living  Word,  and  in  the  Bible,  the  Written  Word.  "The  Moral 
Contents  of  God's  Will  " 

Matt.  5  ^'-=^  Heb.  1  ^-;  John  1  ",  14  '^'  ^'-^\ 

"From  the  moral  side  there  are  three  different  depart- 
ments of  God's  will.  Foremost,  and  apparently  most  rigid 
of  all,  are  the  Ten  Commandments.  Now  the  Ten  Command- 
ments contain  in  a  few  sentences  one  of  the  largest  known 
portions  of  God's  will.  They  form  the  most  strict  code  of 
morality  in  the  world;  the  basis  of  all  others;  the  most 
venerable  and  universal  expression  of  the  will  of  God  for  man. 
Following  upon  this  there  come  the  Beatitudes  of  Christ. 
This  is  another  large  portion  of  God's  will.  This  forms  the 
most  unique  code  of  morality  in  the  world,  the  most  complete 
and  lovely  additional  expression  of  the  will  of  God  for 
Christians.  Passing  through  the  human  heart  of  Christ,  the 
older  commandment  of  the  Creator  becomes  the  soft  and 
mellow  beatitude  of  the  Saviour — passes  from  the  colder 
domain  of  law,  with  a  penalty  on  failure,  to  the  warm  region 
of  love,  with  a  benediction  on  success.  These  are  the  two 
chief  elements  in  the  moral  part  of  the  will  of  God  for  man. 
But  there  is  a  third  set  of  laws  and  rules  which  are  not  to 
be  found  exactly  expressed  in  either  of  these.  The  Ten 
Commandments  and  the  Beatitudes  take  up  most  of  the  room 
in  God's  will,  but  there  are  shades  of  precept  still  unexpressed 
which  also  have  their  place.  Hence  we  must  add  to  all  this 
mass  of  law  and  beatitude  many  more  laws  and  many  more 
beatitudes  which  lie  enclosed  in  other  texts,  and  other  words 
of  Christ  which  have  their  place  like  the  rest  as  portions  of 
God's  will."  Ibid.,  pages  270,  271. 

Cf.  Gal.  5".".  I  Cor.  13  *-^  Col.  3'^-'';  Eph.  6''-'^; 
Phil.  4  8;  I  Tim.  6  ^^  James  3  ^^  II  Peter  1  ^"^  for  other  like 
collections  of  beatitudes. 


138  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

Study  Xn.     The  Universal  Will  of  God  for  All  Men 

FIFTH  DAY 

Can  We  ever  Hope  to  Fulfil  All  These  Laws  ? 

Gal.  5";  I  Cor.  l6";  Rom.  10  ^'^^  13  «■l^  Phil.  3»; 
Matt.  7  '^  22  ^^-''^ 

James  2  *;  John  13  ^*;  I  John  5  ^ 

"How  can  we  do  God's  will.'' — this  complicated  mass  of 
rules    and    statutes^    each    bristling   with   the    certainty    of    a 

thousand    breakages Can    God    know    how    weak    we 

are,  and  blind  and  biased  toward  the  breakages,  ere  ever  we 
thought  of  him.''  Can  he  think  how  impossible  it  is  to  keep 
these  laws,  even  for  one  close-watched,  experimental  hour? 
Did  Christ  really  mean  it — not  some  lesser  thing  than  this — 
when  he  taught  in  the  ideal  prayer  that  God's  will  was  to  be 
done  on  earth  even  as  it  is  done  in  heaven? 

"There  can  be  but  one  answer.  'God  hath  chosen  thee, 
that  thou  shouldest  know  his  will. '  .  .  .  .  There  by  the  side  of 
our  frailty,  he  lays  down  his  holy  will — lays  it  down  con- 
fidingly as  if  a  child  could  take  it  in  its  grasp,  and,  as  if 
he  means  the  child  to  fondle  it  and  bear  it  in  his  breast,  he 
says,  'If  a  man  love  me  he  will  keep  my  words.'  " 

Ibid.,  pages  272,  273. 

"When  God  puts  down  his  great  will  beside  me  telling 
me  to  do  it,  he  puts  down  just  beside  it  as  great  a  thing,  his 
love.  And  as  my  soul  trembles  at  the  fearfulness  of  will,  love 
comes  with  its  calm  omnipotence  and  draws  it  to  himself; 
then  takes  my  timid  will  and  twines  it  around  his,  till  mine 
is  fierce  with  passion  to  serve,  and  strong  to  do  his  will.  Just 
as  if  some  mighty  task  were  laid  to  an  infant's  hand  and  the 
engine-grasp  of  a  giant  strengthened  it  with  his  own.  Where 
God's  law  is,  is  God's  love.  Look  at  law — it  withers  your 
very  soul  with  its  stern  inexorable  face.  But  look  at  love  or 
look  at  God's  will,  which  means  look  at  love's  will,  and  you 

are   reassured   and   your   heart    grows    strong So   the 

Christian  keeps  that  will  or  the  laws  of  God  because  of  the 
love  of  God."  Ibid.,  pages  274.  ^75,  277. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  1S0 


Study  Xn.    The  Universal  Will  of  God  for  All  Men 

SIXTH  DAY 

Although  God's  Universal  Will  for  the  World— His  Will  for  Character 
— Cannot  Be  Fully  Known;  His  Particular  Will  for  Each  Individual 
— His  Will  for  Career — may  be  Fully  Known  by  that  Individual, 
and  it  is  This  Which  We  are  Bidden  to  Know  and  Do 

Rom.  12-;  Eph.  5  ^^ 

"In     the    Ten    Commandments,    in    conscience,    in    the 

Beatitudes  of  Christ,  God  tells  all  the  world  his  will It 

is  as  universal  as  his  love.    It  is  the  will  on  which  the  character 

of  every  man  is  to  be  formed  and  conformed  to  God's 

But  there  is  a  will  for  career  as  well  as  for  character 

If  I  have  God's  will  in  my  character,  my  life  may  become  great 
and  good.  It  may  be  useful  and  honorable  and  even  a  monu- 
ment of  the  sanctifying  power  of  God.  But  it  will  only  be  a 
life.  However  great  and  pure  it  is,  it  can  be  no  more  than  a 
life.  And  it  ought  to  be  a  mission.  There  should  be  no  such 
thing  as  a  Christian  life,  each  life  should  be  a  mission. 

"Now  those  ....  who  are  simply  living  in  the  world 
and  growing  character,  however  finely  they  may  be  develop- 
ing their  character,  cannot  understand  too  plainly  that  they 
are  not  fulfilling  God's  will.  They  are  really  outside  a  great 
part  of  God's  will  altogether.  They  understand  the  universal 
part,  they  are  moulded  by  it,  and  their  lives  as  lives  are  in 
some  sense  noble  and  true.  But  they  miss  the  private  part, 
the  secret  whispering  of  God  in  the  ear,  the  constant  message 
from  earth  to  heaven,  'Lord,  what  will  thou  have  me  to  do  ?*  " 

Ibid.,  page  306. 


140  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

Study  Xn.     The  Universal  Will  of  God  for  All  Men 

SEVENTH  DAY— REVIEW 

1.  Have  we  received  the  highest  revelation  of  character 
which  it  is  possible  for  God  to  give? 

2.  Is  it  possible  for  a  man  to  know  God's  will  for  career 
without  knowing  his  will  for  character? 

3.  Has  a  Christian  the  right  to  transgress  deliberately 
the  laws  of  health? 

4.  Did  Jesus  ever  do  so? 

5.  How  far  can  we  learn  God's  universal  will  from  the 
ancient  classics?  from  modern  literature?  from  secular 
biography  and  autobiography?  from  history?  from  tradition? 
from  public  opinion  ?  from  natural  science  ? 

6.  Is  a  man  who  has  lived  up  to  God's  universal  will 
for  character  as  far  as  it  has  been  revealed  a  perfect  man? 
Is  he  a  blameless  man? 

7.  Is  any  other  instrument  than  the  intellect  necessary 
to  grasp  the  universal  will  of  God  for  the  world?  (Cf.  James 
2  '^'  20.) 

8.  Is  it  possible  for  a  man  to  do  the  broad,  universal 
will  of  God  for  all  men  but  not  the  particular  for  himself? 

9.  Is  the  soul  struggle  and  the  definite  conscious  act  of 
ethical  decision  necessary  to  know  and  do  the  universal  will 
of  God?     (Luke  9  *'• '";  Matt.  10  *"-*-,  25  ^'-*'.) 

10.  Is  this  struggle  necessary  to  know  and  do  the  par- 
ticular will?   (Luke  11^3;  John  8  "•  *^  John  5^°;  Matt.  19 

16-22     ly  22,  23  A 

11.  Which  is  referred  to  in  I\Iatt.  7'^ — the  universal  or 
the  particular  ?    Does  the  universal  include  the  particular  ? 

12.  Can  a  person  do  God's  universal  will  by  imitating 
another  person  who  is  doing  God's  will?  (1  Cor.  4^%  H  ^; 
Phil.  3  1%  4  ";  I  Peter  5  ^)      by  imitating  God?      (Eph.  5  \) 

13.  Can  he  do  the  particular  v/ill  of  God  for  himself  in 
that  same  way?     (John  21  ~^'  ^^.) 


STUDY    XIII 

The  Particular  Will  of  God  for  Each  Individual  Man.    "God's  Will 
for  the  Individual — for  Career" 

"I  will  guide  thee  with  mine  eye."  — Ps.  32:8. 

"The  sheep  hear  his  voice:  and  he  calleth  his  own  sheep  by  name 
and  leadeth  them  out."  —John  10:  S. 

"The  God  of  our  fathers  hath  appointed  thee  to  know  his  will." 

—Acts  22: 1^ 

"A  man  after  my  heart,  who  shall  do  all  my  wiU." 

—Acts  IS: 22. 

"But  I  will  come  to  you  shortly,  if  the  Lord  will." — I  Cor.  4  •'  19. 

"Come  now,  ye  that  say.  Today  or  tomorrow  we  will  go  into 
this  city,  and  spend  a  year  there,  and  trade,  and  get  gain:   whereas 

ye  know  not  what  shall  be  on  the  morrow For  that  ye  ought 

to  say.  If  the  Lord  will,  we  shall  both  live,  and  do  this  or  that." 

— James  4  •'  IS,  15. 

"And  a  voice  came  out  of  heaven.  Thou  art  my  beloved  Son; 
in  thee  I  am  well  pleased."  — Luke  3:22. 

"And  behold,  angels  came  and  ministered  unto  him." 

—Matt.  4:11. 

"And  behold,  a  voice  out  of  the  cloud,  saying.  This  is  my  beloved 
Son  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased;  hear  ye  him."  — Matt.  17:5. 

"And  Jesus  lifted  up  his  eyes,  and  said.  Father,  I  thank  thee 
that  thou  heardest  me."  — John  11 :  4I. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Drummond.  The  Ideal  Life— "What  is  God's  Will?"  "The 
Relation  of  the  Will  of  God  to  Sanctiflcation,"  "How  to  Know  the 
WiU  of  God." 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  143 

Study  XIII.     The  Particular  Will  of  God  for  Each  Individual  Man 

FIRST  DAY 

What  Do  We  Mean  by  the  Particular  Will  of  God  for  the  Individual 

Man? 

Acts  22  '--^  (esp.  vs.  14,  17,  18,  21). 

"It  is  a  reasonable  expectation  that  we  may  find  it 
[God's  will]  so  fully  as  to  know  at  any  moment  whether  we  be 
in  the  line  of  it  or  no ;  and  when  difficulty  arises  about  the  next 
step  of  our  life,  we  may  have  absolute  certainty  which  way 
God's  will  inclines." 

Drummond  :  The  Ideal  Life,  pages  266,  267. 

"There  is  an  unknown  part  of  God's  will — at  least,  a 
part  which  is  known  only  to  you.  There  is  God's  will  for  the 
world  and  God's  will  for  the  individual.  There  is  God's 
will  written  on  tables  of  stone  for  all  the  world  to  read.  There 
is  God's  will  carved  in  sacred  hieroglyphic  which  no  one  reads 
but  you.  There  is  God's  will  rolling  in  thunder  over  the  life 
of  universal  man.  There  is  God's  will  dropped  softly  on 
the  believer's  ear  in  angel  whispers,  or  the  still  small  voice  o£ 
God." 

Ibid.,  page  278. 

"Now  this  region  may  be  distinguished  from  the  other 
regions  ....  by  its  secrecy.  It  is  a  private  thing,  between  God 
and  you.  You  want  to  know  what  to  do  next — your  calling 
in  life,  for  instance.  You  want  to  know  what  action  to  take 
in  a  certain  matter.  You  want  to  know  what  to  do  with  your 
money.  You  want  to  know  whether  to  go  into  a  certain 
scheme  or  not.  Then  you  enter  into  this  private  chamber  of 
God's  will,  and  ask  this  private  question,  'Lord,  what 
wouldest  thou  have  me  to  do  ?'  " 

Ibid.,  pages  278,  279. 

"There  is  a  will  for  career  as  well  as  for  character.  There 
is  a  will  for  where — in  what  place,  viz.  in  this  town  or  another 


144  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

town — I  am  to  become  like  God  as  well  as  that  I  am  to  become 
like  God.  There  is  a  will  for  where  I  am  to  be,  and  what  I 
am  to  be,  and  what  I  am  to  do  tomorrow.  There  is  a  will  for 
what  scheme  I  am  to  take  up,  and  what  work  I  am  to  do  for 
Christ,  and  what  business  arrangements  to  make,  and  what 
money  to  give  away.  This  is  God's  private  will  for  me,  for 
every  step  I  take,  for  the  path  of  life  along  which  he  points 
my  way:  God's  will  for  my  career."  Ibid.,  page  SOJ/.. 

"There  is  a  will  of  God  for  me  which  is  willed  for  no 
one  else  besides.  It  is  not  a  share  in  the  universal  will  in 
the  same  sense  as  I  have  a  share  in  the  universal  love.  It  is  a 
particular  will  for  me,  different  from  the  will  he  has  for 
anyone  else — a  private  will — a  will  which  no  one  else  knows 
about — which  no  one  can  know  about  but  me." 

Ibid.,  pages  303,  SOJf. 

"The  secret  joy  of  asking  a  question  like  this  ['Lord, 
what  wilt  Thou  have  me  to  do?'],  the  wonderful  sense  in  ask- 
ing it  of  being  in  the  counsels  of  God,  the  overpowering 
thought  that  God  has  taken  notice  of  you,  and  your  question — 
that  he  will  let  you  do  something,  something  peculiar,  per- 
sonal, private,  which  no  one  else  has  been  given  to  do — this 
which  gives  life  for  God  its  true  sublimity,  and  makes  a  per- 
petual sacrament  of  all  its  common  things." 

Ibid,,  page  806. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  145 

Study  XIII.     The  Particular  Will  of  God  for  Each  Individual  Man 

SECOND  DAY 

Does  God  Actually  Communicate  With  Men  to  Energize  and  Guide 
Them  ? 

Gal.  1  >^  2-   (Acts   15-);  I   Cor.   15';  II  Cor.   12  ^->^; 

Eph.  3  '-\ 

Matt.  3  ^3-^%  4  ^<>'  ",  16  ''■"-'',  16  ^i— 17  «,  26  2«-''%  27  *«. 

Acts  8  2«. 

Acts  9'-''(cf.  22^-2%  26'-^';  I  Cor.  15  «),  10  ^'^^  12% 
16  *-'",  18  -°'  21,  19  21^  20  "'  -%  27  -'■-'. 

John  10  3-  S  14  i"'  =^«,  15  -%  16  ''  "'  ^*;  I  John  3  =*. 

"This  is  a  distinct  addition  to  the  other  parts — an  ad- 
dition, too,  which  many  men  ignore  and  other  men  deny.  But 
there  is  such  a  region  in  God's  will — a  region  unmapped  in 
human  charts,  unknown  to  human  books,  a  region  for  the  pure 
in  heart,  for  the  upright,  for  the  true.  It  is  a  land  of 
mystery  to  those  who  know  it  not,  a  land  of  foolishness  and 
weaknesses,  and  delusive  sights  and  sounds.  But  there  is  a 
land  where  the  Spirit  moves,  a  luminous  land,  a  walking  in 
God's  light.  There  is  a  region  where  God's  own  people  have 
their  breathing  from  above,  where  each  saint's  steps  are 
ordered  of  the  Lord."  Ibid.,  page  278. 

Of  the  fact  of  some  sort  of  communication  between  God 
and  man  there  cannot  be  the  slightest  doubt.  The  verses 
cited  above  are  sufficient  in  number  to  establish  the  fact  with 
reference  to  Jesus  and  the  Apostles.  That  many  men  have 
never  had  such  intercourse  is  no  argument  against  the  pos- 
sibility of  it  unless  it  can  be  shown  that  these  men  have  ful- 
filled the  conditions  under  which,  according  to  Jesus  and 
Paul,  such  communication  is  possible,  and  that  then  there  has 
been  no  intercourse.  What  are  these  conditions  and  how  are 
we  to  expect  the  messages  of  God  to  come  to  us? 


146  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

Study  XIII.     The  Particular  Will  of  God  for  Each  Individual  Man 

THIRD  DAY 

The  Human  Will  the  Receiving  Instrument  of  Divine  Communication 

John  7  ''. 

"The  model  life  is  not  to  be  mystically  attained.  There  is 
spirituality  about  it  but  no  unreality."  Ibid.,  page  231. 

"This  is  not  mysticism,  no  visionary's  dream.  It  is 
not  to  drown  the  reason  with  enthusiasm's  airy  hope  or  su- 
persede the  word  of  God  with  fanaticism's  blind  caprice. 
No,  it  is  not  that.  It  is  what  Christ  said:  'The  sheep  hear  his 
voice,  and  he  calleth  his  own  sheep  by  name  and  leadeth 
them.'  "  Ibid.,  page  277. 

Man  learns  God's  will,  not  primarily  through  the  five 
physical  senses  and  the  mind,  but  through  the  organ  of 
spiritual  apprehension,  the  human  will.  It  is  with  reference  to 
this  point  that  many  men  go  astray  at  the  very  start.  The 
people  of  earlier  and  more  primitive  ages  expressed  their 
experience  when  God  communicated  with  them  in  the  only 
terms  which  they  had — the  terms  of  human  communication — 
vision  and  the  voice.  Their  experience  was  real  but  they 
could  only  imperfectly  express  it,  and  they  needed  to  express 
impelling  conviction  in  some  such  way  that  it  would  not  be  con- 
fused with  an  ordinary  thought  or  idea.  It  is  significant  that 
when  God  communicates  with  man  in  these  Gospel  records 
his  words  are  generally  either  a  conviction  of  sin,  a  command 
to  service,  or  an  assurance,  i.e.  an  irresistible  conviction,  im- 
pelling and  energizing  a  man  either  to  go  ahead  or  to  stop 
short. 

It  is  in  the  realm  of  the  will,  then,  that  God  communi- 
cates with  men,  even  as  Jesus  said:  "If  any  man  be  willing, 
he  shall  know."  We  are  to  expect  no  hand  reaching  down 
from  heaven,  no  human  voice — only  the  unmistakable,  irresis- 
tible conviction  energizing  the  human  will. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  147 


Study  XIII,     The  Particular  Will  of  God  for  Each  Individual  Man 

FOURTH  DAY 

The  Significance  of  the  Compelling  Conviction 

Rom.  9^;  Matt  l6'';  James  3  ^' ;  1  John  4<^'^^;  Rev. 
17  '';  11  Peter  1  '\ 

How  are  we  to  explain  the  sense  of  mission  in  all  the 
great  leaders  of  the  world's  civilization — their  irresistible  con- 
viction that  they  were  in  the  right  and  their  instant  willing- 
ness to  die  for  such  convictions  ?  Napoleon  had  no  such  con- 
viction about  his  work — he  did  not  die  on  the  field  of  Water- 
loo but  fled  from  it,  and  it  is  just  this  lack  of  "mission"  in 
his  career  that  has  caused  him  to  be  denied  a  place  among  the 
leaders  of  the  world's  civilization.  But  Socrates,  Joan  of 
Arc,  Abraham  Lincoln  had  this  very  thing.  Socrates  has  left 
on  record  the  description  of  his  "Daemonium" — the  inward 
impulse  which,  as  distinguished  from  conscience,  "referred  only 
to  future  actions  and  did  not  approve  or  condemn  the  past." 
For  Jesus  and  Paul  this  same  phenomenon  expresses  itself  in 
the  ever  recurring  phrase,  "I  must."  And  the  interesting  thing 
to  note  is  that  extensive  education  is  not  necessary  to  such  a 
conviction.  Any  man  (John  7  ^^)  may  have  such  assurance 
with  reference  to  his  course  not  only  about  great  things  but  also 
about  the  little  things — every  step  of  his  life.  Any  man  may 
have  this  sure  conviction,  but  before  he  will,  two  things  are 
essential  for  tlie  most  of  us — the  receiving  instrument  must  be 
cleaned,  and  it  must  be  made  strong  in  order  most  fully  to 
receive  the  communications. 


148  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

Study  XIII.     The  Particular  Will  of  God  for  Each  Individual  Man 

FIFTH  DAY 

How   May   We   Prepare  Ourselves  to  Receive  the  Compelling  Con- 
viction ? 

(a)     The  cleaning  of  the  receiving  instrument — The  sig- 
nificance of  right  living  and  a  clear  conscience. 

"Which  of  you  convicteth  me  of  sin?"     John  8  '*^. 
[Prov.  21  2]  ;  I  Thess.  4  ^-^^;  I  Cor.  1^,4>*;II  Tim.  2  ^^ 


Mark  3";  Matt.  5  «- ^s.  2*,  13  ^^  Acts  8^1,  23  \  24  i«; 
James  4  «;  Heb.  9''",  10",  13  i«;  I  Peter  1  '^-'^  3  ^«;  I  John 
S^'*-^-^;  II  Peter  3  ^\ 

"Wisdom  will  not  enter  into  a  soul  that  deviseth  evil,  nor 
dwell  in  a  body  that  is  held  in  pledge  by  sin." 

Wisdom  of  Solomon  1 :  J^. 

"It  requires  a  well-kept  life  to  know  the  will  of  God, 
and  none  but  the  Christlike  in  character  can  know  the  Christ- 
like in  career." 

Drummond:  The  Ideal  Life,  page  307. 

"The  practical  object  of  the  first  process  is  mainly  to  put 

the  thing  in  position  where  God  can  use  it A  man  is 

consecrated  that  God  may  use  him.    It  is  the  process  by  which 
he  is  got  into  position  for  God."  Ibid.,  page  285. 

Intercourse  of  God  with  man  in  the  Bible  is  always  pre- 
ceded, either  immediately  or  in  the  more  remote  past,  by  a 
moral  victory.  It  is  the  "pure  in  heart"  who  see  God.  Those 
who  have  been  faithful  in  that  which  is  least  are  entrusted 
with  the  true  riches.  He  who  loses  his  life  in  deeds  of  un- 
selfishness "finds  it."  Examine  all  the  instances  of  the  com- 
munication between  God  and  Jesus  in  the  New  Testament 
and  see  if  Jesus  has  not  won  some  moral  victory  just  before 
each  instance. 

It  is  here  that  the  universal  will  of  God  is  connected 
with  the  particular.     Transgression  of  the  universal  will  of 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  149 

God — the  laws  of  nature  and  morality  so  far  as  they  have  been 
revealed — is  sin  and  sin  blocks  the  channel  of  communication. 
In  other  words,  obedience  to  the  universal  will  of  God  is  the 
first  step  toward  knowing  the  particular  will  of  God. 

"Does  it  seem  to  you  impossible  that  you  can  ever  find 
your  way  into  a  path  prepared  for  you  by  God  and  be  led 
along  in  it  by  his  mighty  counsel?  Let  me  tell  you  a  secret. 
It  requires  a  very  close,  well-kept  life  to  do  this ;  a  life  in 
which  the  soul  can  have  confidence  always  toward  God;  a  life 
which  allows  the  Spirit  always  to  abide  and  reign;  driven 
away  by  no  affront  of  selfishness.  There  must  be  a  complete 
renunciation  of  self-will." 

Bushnell:  The  New  Life,  pages  26,  27. 


150  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

Study  Xin.     The  Particular  Will  of  God  for  Each  Individual  Man 

SIXTH  DAY 

How   May  We  Prepare  Ourselves  to  Receive  the  Compelling  Con- 
viction? (concluded) 

(b)  The  strengthening  of  the  receiving  instrument — The 
training  and  developing  of  the  human  will. 

"I  do  always  the  things  that  are  pleasing  to  him." 
John  8 '^ 

Mark  10  =^--3*;  Matt.  21  ^^-^i;  Luke  9  "'■'%  14  "'^^  (esp. 
V.  33). 

Not  only  is  a  clean  instrument  necessary  to  receive  the 
divine  communication.  We  must  also  have  a  strong  instru- 
ment. "The  real  organ  of  knowing  God's  will/'  says  Drum- 
mond  (page  3l6),  "[may  be]  so  out  of  order  from  disuse  that 
even  reason  would  be  biased  in  its  choice.  A  heart  not  quite 
subdued  to  God  is  an  imperfect  element  in  which  his  will  can 
never  live;  and  the  intellect  which  belongs  to  such  a  heart  is 
an  imperfect  instrument  and  cannot  find  God's  will  unerringly 
— for  God's  will  is  found  in  regions  which  obedience  only 
can  explore." 

The  human  will  can  be  trained  and  strengthened  so  that 
the  mind  will  have  greater  sensibility  in  apprehension  of  con- 
viction. Once  granted  the  foundation  of  right  living  and  a 
clear  conscience,  the  delicacy  of  perception  of  God's  commu- 
nications is  directly  proportionate  to  the  development  and 
strength  of  the  human  will.  God's  messages  and  missions 
have  never  been  given  to  weak  men.  But  a  word  of  caution 
should  be  inserted  here.  There  is  a  difference  between  a 
strong  will  (I  Cor.  7  ^")  and  a  stubborn  will  (Titus  1  '^). 
A  stubborn  will  is,  in  reality,  a  weak  will.  A  strong  will 
is  a  will  that  has  been  trained  to  be  master  of  itself  by  self- 
denial;  and,  inasmuch  as  absolute  surrender  is  the  highest 
form  of  self-denial  (Luke  14^^),  it  follows  that  absolute  sur- 
render is  the  strongest  exercise  of  which  the  human  will  is 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  151 

capable.  This  seems  like  a  paradox  but  it  is  a  fact,  and  it 
explains  why  the  apparent  weakness  and  submissiveness  of 
Christianity  has  produced  so  many  physical  and  moral  heroes. 

Are  there  means  for  increasing  the  power  of  the  human 
will  as  there  are  for  increasing  the  power  of  the  human  eye 
and  the  human  mind?  There  certainly  are.  Prof.  William 
James  in  his  "Psychology"  [Briefer  Course],  page  149,  at 
the  close  of  the  chapter  on  "Habit"  gives  a  most  effective 
method.  "Be  ascetically  heroic  and  self-denying  about  some 
one  little  thing  each  day,"  he  says.  Pick  out  some  one  thing, 
some  article  of  diet  or  habit  and  deny  yourself  it  without  ex- 
ception, not  because  you  need  to  but  because  you  have  once 
decided  to.  Jesus  himself  followed  this  same  method.  In 
certain  matters  he  never  allowed  an  exception:  (John  8^^) 
"I  do  always  the  things  that  are  pleasing  to  him." 

Can  we  combine  the  cleaning  and  strengthening  of  the 
human  will  into  one  process.''  Can  we  set  before  us  some 
absolute  moral  standards  of  right  living  which  we  can  apply 
to  every  question  that  arises,  from  which  we  allow  ourselves 
no  right  of  deviation?  and  will  the  practice  of  this  process 
result  in  undoubted,  compelling  convictions  from  God?  In 
the  next  lesson  we  shall  give  the  result  of  such  an  attempt 
on  the  part  of  six  modern  religious  leaders ;  in  the  lesson  after, 
the  teaching  of  Jesus  and  the  Apostles  on  the  same  point. 


162  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

Study  Xin.     The  Particular  Will  of  God  for  Each  Individual  Man 

SEVENTH  DAY— REVIEW 

1.  How  far  can  we  learn  God's  particular  will  for  us 
individually  from  nature?  from  the  Bible?  from  the  ancient 
classical  writers?  from  the  modern  literature?  from  secular 
biography  and  autobiography?  from  another  man?  (Phil.  4  ^.) 

2.  Carlyle  says  of  the  religious  leader:  "It  is  ever  the  way 
with  the  thinker,  the  Spiritual  Hero.  What  he  says  all  men 
were  not  far  from  saying,  were  longing  to  say."  Have  you 
not  had  this  exjoerience — where  some  great  preacher  put  into 
words  a  thought  which  you  had  had  vaguely  in  your  mind  for 
a  long  time,  but  which  was  not  clear  enough  to  be  expressed? 
Why  was  he  able  to  express  it  and  you  were  not? 

3.  Can  convictions  take  on  such  reality  as  to  be  regarded 
as  visions? 

4.  What  assurance  have  we  in  Scripture  that  God  cares 
for  the  smallest  details  of  our  life  and  career? 

5.  How  distinguish  compelling  convictions  from  ordinary 
impulses?     (I  John  4  ^ ;  James  3  ^^.) 

6.  Do  doubts  have  a  moral  root?  If  so  can  they  be 
cured  by  right  action,  i.e.  by  running  back  to  the  switch  where 
we  ran  ofF  the  main  line  of  obedience? 

"If  you  have  lost  the  blessing  ....  go  back  and  search 
for  it,  and  you  will  find  it  where  you  lost  it !  Just  there  and 
nowhere  else.  Have  you  found  the  spot  where  your  obedi- 
ence failed?  Yield  and  obey  just  there,  pick  up  your  obedi- 
ence where  you  dropped  it,  and  there  you  may  obtain  the 
blessing  again  as  you  obtained  it  at  the  first;  but  just  there 
and  nowhere  else." 

MacNeil:  The  Spirit-Filled  Life,  page  12Jf.. 


STUDY    XIV 

How  to  Know  the  Particular  Will  of  God    (a)    The  Views  of  Modem 
Relisrious  Leaders 

1.  Horace  Bushnell:   "Do  the  right." 

2.  Canon  Motley:   "Love." 

3.  F.  W.  Robertson:   "Be  generous,  chaste,  true,  brave." 

4.  Henry  Drummond:    "Practice  I  Cor.  13:4-6." 

5.  Robert  E.  Speer:  "Practice  John  6:29;  I  Thess.  4:3;  Matt. 
18:14." 

6.  Lyman  Abbott:  "Follow  Christ  in  your  life." 


Can  we  combine  the  cleansing  and  developing  of  our 
instrument  for  knowing  God's  will  into  one  process  ?  Can  we 
set  before  us  some  absolute  moral  standards  of  right  living, 
which  we  can  apply  to  every  question,  great  or  small,  that 
arises,  and  from  which  we  allow  ourselves  no  right  of  devi- 
ation? And  will  the  practice  of  this  process  result  in  un- 
doubted compelling  convictions  from  God?  As  the  universal 
will  of  God  passes  in  review  each  day  before  us  in  the  revela- 
tions of  nature  and  humanity  will  he,  through  the  instrumen- 
tality of  these  standards,  lay  unmistakably  upon  our  hearts 
those  particular  phases  of  this  universal  will  which  are  his 
particular  will  for  us? 

Let  us  trace  chronologically  the  history  of  this  attempt  in 
modern  times.  Six  men  who  no  one  doubts  were  led  of  God 
have  given  us,  each  one,  the  story  of  his  experience  and  in 
nearly  every  instance  the  result. 


A  MAN'S  LIFE  WORK  155 

Study  XIV.     How  to   Know  the    Particular   Will   of  God.     (a)  The 
Views  of  Modern  Religious  Leaders 

FIRST  DAY 

Horace  Bushnell— "Do  the  Right" 

"Have  I  ever  consented  to  be,  and  am  I  really  now,  in 
the  right,  as  in  principle  and  supreme  law;  to  live  for  it; 
to  make  any  sacrifice  it  will  cost  me ;  to  believe  everything  it 
will  bring  me  to  see ;  to  be  a  confessor  of  Christ  as  soon  as 
it  appears  to  be  enjoined  upon  me;  to  go  on  a  mission  to  the 
world's  end  if  due  conviction  sends  me ;  to  change  my  occu- 
pation for  good  conscience's  sake ;  to  repair  whatever  wrong 
I  have  done  to  another;  to  be  humbled  if  I  should  before  my 
worst  enemy;  to  do  complete  justice  to  God,  and  if  I  could 
to  all  worlds — in  a  word,  to  be  in  wholly  right  intent,  and 
have  no  mind  but  this  forever?" 

Cheney:  Life  and  Letters  of  Horace  Bushnell,  pages  57, 
58. 

Bushnell  has  left  us  the  story  of  how  he  came  to  accept 
this  standard  and  what  is  meant  in  his  later  life  in  a  sermon 
on  "Dissolving  of  Doubts,"  first  delivered  to  the  students  of 
Yale  College. 

"Suppose  that  one  of  us,  clear  of  all  the  vices,  having 
a  naturally  active-minded  inquiring  habit,  occupied  largely 
with  thoughts  of  religion;  never  meaning  to  get  far  away 
from  the  truth,  but,  as  he  thinks,  to  find  it,  only  resolved  to 
have  a  free  mind,  and  not  allow  himself  to  be  carried  by  force 
or  fear,  or  anything  but  real  conviction — suppose  that  such  a 
one,  going  on  thus,  year  by  year,  reading,  questioning,  hear- 
ing all  the  while  the  gospel  in  which  he  has  been  educated, 
sometimes  impressed  by  it,  but  relapsing  shortly  into  greater 
doubt  than  before,  finds  his  religious  beliefs  wearing  out  and 
vanishing,  he  knows  not  how,  till,  finally,  he  seems  to  really 
believe  nothing.  He  has  not  meant  to  be  an  atheist ;  but  he 
is  astonished  to  find  that  he  has  nearly  lost  the  conviction  of 


156  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

God,  and  cannot,  if  he  would,  say  with  any  emphasis  of  con- 
viction that  God  exists.  The  world  looks  blank,  and  he  feels 
that  existence  is  getting  blank  also  to  himself.  This  heavy 
charge  of  his  possibly  immortal  being  oppresses  him,  and  he 
asks  again  and  again,  'What  shall  I  do  with  it.'''  His  hunger 
is  complete,  and  his  soul  turns  every  way  for  bread.  His 
friends  do  not  satisfy  him.  His  suns  do  not  rise  but  only 
climb.  A  kind  of  leaden  aspect  overhangs  the  world.  Till, 
finally,  pacing  his  chamber  some  day,  there  comes  up  sud- 
denly the  question,  'Is  there,  then,  no  truth  that  I  do  believe? 
Yes,  there  is  this  one,  now  that  I  think  of  it;  there  is  a  dis- 
tinction of  right  and  wrong  that  I  never  doubted,  and  I  see 
not  how  I  can;  I  am  even  quite  sure  of  it.'  Then  forthwith 
starts  up  the  question,  'Have  I,  then,  ever  taken  the  prin- 
ciple of  right  for  my  life.^  I  have  done  right  things  as  men 
speak;  have  I  ever  thrown  my  life  out  on  the  principle  to 
become  all  it  requires  of  me?  No,  I  have  not,  consciously 
I  have  not.  Ah !  then  here  is  something  for  me  to  do !  No 
matter  what  becomes  of  my  questions — nothing  ought  to  be- 
come of  them  if  I  cannot  take  a  first  principle  so  inevitably 
true,  and  live  in  it.'  The  very  suggestion  seems  to  be  a  kind 
of  revelation;  it  is  even  a  relief  to  feel  the  conviction  it 
brings.  'Here  then,'  he  says,  'will  I  begin.  If  there  is  a 
God,  as  I  rather  hope  there  is,  and  very  dimly  believe,  he  is  a 
right  God.  If  I  have  lost  him  in  wrong,  perhaps  I  shall  find 
him  in  right.  Will  he  not  help  me,  or  perchance,  even  be 
discovered  to  me?'  Now  the  decisive  moment  is  come.  He 
drops  on  his  knees,  and  there  he  prays  to  the  dim  God,  dimly 
felt,  confessing  the  dimness  for  honesty's  sake,  and  asking  for 
help  that  he  may  begin  a  right  life.  He  bows  himself  on  it, 
as  he  prays,  choosing  it  to  be  henceforth  his  unalterably 
eternal  endeavor. 

"It  is  an  awfully  dark  prayer  in  the  look  of  it;  but  the 
truest  and  best  he  can  make,  the  better  and  the  more  true 
that  he  puts  no  orthodox  colors  on  it;  and  the  prayer  and  the 
vow  are  so  profoundly  meant  that  his  soul  is  borne  up  into 
God's  help,  as  it  were,  by  some  unseen  chariot,  and  permitted 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  15T 

to  see  the  opening  of  heaven  even  sooner  than  he  opens  his 
eyes.  He  rises  and  it  is  as  if  he  had  gotten  wings.  The  whole 
sky  is  luminous  about  him.  It  is  the  morning,  as  it  were,  of 
a  new  eternity.  After  this  all  troublesome  doubt  of  God's 
reality  is  gone,  for  he  has  found  him !  A  being  so  profoundly 
felt  must  inevitably  be. 

"Now  this  conversion,  calling  it  by  that  name  as  we  prop- 
erly should,  may  seem,  in  the  apprehension  of  some,  to  be  a 
conversion  for  the  gospel,  and  not  in  it  or  by  it — a  conversion 
by  the  want  of  truth  more  than  by  the  power  of  truth.  But 
that  will  be  a  judgment  more  superficial  than  the  facts  per- 
mit. No,  it  is  exactly  this ;  it  is  seeking  first  the  kingdom  of 
God  and  his  righteousness — exactly  that,  and  nothing  less. 
And  the  dimly  groping  cry  for  help,  what  is  that  but  a  feel- 
ing after  God,  if,  haply,  it  may  find  him,  and  actually  finding 
him  not  far  off?  And  what  is  the  help  obtained  but  exactly 
the  true  Christ-help?  And  the  result,  what,  also,  is  that,  but 
tlie  kingdom  of  God  within,  righteousness  and  peace  and  joy 
in  the  Holy  Ghost.'' 

"There  is  a  story  lodged  in  the  little  bedroom  of  one  of 
these  dormitories  which  I  pray  God  his  recording  angel  may 
note,  allowing  it  never  to  be  lost." 

Ibid.,  pages  58,  59, 


158  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  XIV.     How  to  Know  the  Particular  Will  of  God.     (a)  The 
Views  of  Modern  Religious  Leaders 

SECOND  DAY 

Canon  Mozley — "Love" 

"The  New  Testament  describes,  in  various  parts,  what 
spiritual  character  is,  its  expressions  and  manifestations ;  but 
there  is  one  gift  which  sums  up  all  the  features  of  it, — the 
gift  of  love  or  charity.  This  is  a  comprehensive  term  in 
Scripture,  to  denote  a  combination  of  qualities  of  mind,  and 
there  is  a  description  of  such  a  person,  given  by  St.  Paul 
in  the  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  which  has  stood  as  the 

great  Christian  portrait  in  all   ages There  are  those 

who  stand  out  from  among  the  crowd,  which  reflects  merely 
the  atmosphere  of  feeling  and  standard  of  society  around  it, 
with  an  impress  upon  them  which  bespeaks  a  heavenly  birth. 
Their  criterion  of  what  is  valuable,  and  to  be  sought  after,  is 
different  from  that  of  others.  They  do  not  press  forward  for 
the  i^rizes  of  this  world;  they  stand  apart  from  the  struggle 
in  which  common  minds  are  absorbed.  But  they  do  this  with- 
out spiritual  pride,  they  think  little  of  themselves  and  much  of 
others,  and  they  have  a  love  of  their  brethren  and  of  all 
whom  God  has  made  after  his  own  image.  They  have  these 
and  other  great  common  characteristics,  though  they  have 
differences  of  natural  disposition,  and  exhibit  the  action  of 
divine  grace,  each  in  the  form  in  which  his  natural  character 
is  adapted  to  show  it." 

Mozley:  Sermons  before  the  University  of  Oxford,  page 


i 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  159 

Study  XrV.     How  to  Know  the  Particular  Will  of  God.     (a)  The 
Views  of  Modern  Religious  Leaders 

THIRD  DAY 

Frederick  W.  Robertson — "Be  Generous,  Chaste,  True,  Brave" 

"It  is  an  awful  moment  when  the  soul  begins  to  find  that 
the  props  on  which  it  has  blindly  rested  so  long  are,  many  of 
them,  rotten,  and  begins  to  suspect  them  all ;  when  it  begins  to 
feel  the  nothingness  of  many  of  the  traditionary  opinions 
which  have  been  received  with  implicit  confidence,  and  in  that 
horrible  insecurity  begins  also  to  doubt  whether  there  be  any- 
thing to  believe  at  all.  It  is  an  awful  hour — let  him  who  has 
passed  through  it  say  how  awful — when  this  life  has  lost  its 
meaning,  and  seems  shriveled  into  a  span ;  when  the  grave 
appears  to  be  the  end  of  all,  human  goodness  nothing  but  a 
name,  and  the  sky  above  this  universe  a  dead  expanse,  black 
with  the  void  from  which  God  himself  has  disappeared.  In 
that  fearful  loneliness  of  spirit,  when  those  who  should  have 
been  his  friends  and  counsellors  only  frown  upon  his  mis- 
givings, and  jorofanely  bid  him  stifle  doubts  which,  for  aught 
he  knows,  may  arise  from  the  fountain  of  truth  itself;  to  ex- 
tinguish, as  a  glare  from  hell,  that  which,  for  aught  he  knows, 
may  be  light  from  heaven,  and  everything  seems  wrapped  in 
hideous  imcertainty,  I  know  but  one  way  in  which  a  man  may 
come  forth  from  his  agony  scathless ;  it  is  by  holding  fast  to 
those  things  which  are  certain  still — the  grand,  simple  land- 
marks of  morality.  In  the  darkest  hour  through  which  a  soul 
can  pass,  whatever  else  is  doubtful,  this  at  least  is  certain. 
If  there  be  no  God  and  no  future  state,  yet  even  then  it  is 
better  to  be  generous  than  selfish,  better  to  be  chaste  than  li- 
centious, better  to  be  true  than  false,  better  to  be  brave  than 
to  be  a  coward.  Blessed  beyond  all  earthly  blessedness  is  the 
man  who,  in  the  tempestuous  darkness  of  the  soul,  has  dared 
to  hold  fast  to  these  venerable  landmarks.  Thrice  blessed  is 
he  who — when  all  is  drear  and  cheerless  within  and  without, 
when  his  teachers  terrify  him,  and  his  friends  shrink  from 


160  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

him — has  obstinately  clung  to  moral  good.  Thrice  blessed 
because  his  night  shall  pass  into  clear^  bright  day. 

"I  appeal  to  the  recollection  of  any  man  who  has  passed 
through  that  hour  of  agony,  and  stood  upon  the  rock  at  last, 
the  surges  stilled  below  him,  and  the  last  cloud  drifted  from 
the  sky  above,  with  a  faith  and  hope  and  trust  no  longer  tra- 
ditional but  of  his  own — a  trust  which  neither  earth  nor  hell 
shall  shake  thenceforth  forever," 

Brooke:  Life  and  Letters  of  F.  TV.  Robertson,  Vol.  I., 
Chapter  III, 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  161 

Study  XIV.     How  to  Know  the  Particular  Will  of  God.     (a)  The 
Views  of  Modern  Religious  Leaders 

FOURTH  DAY 

Henry  Drummond — "Practice  I  Cor.  13:  4-6" 

"How  many  of  you  will  join  me  in  reading  this  chapter 
[I  Cor.  13]  once  a  week  for  the  next  three  months?  A  man 
did  that  once  and  it  changed  his  whole  life.  [This  is  one  of 
Drummond's  impersonal  allusions  to  himself.  H.  B.  W-l 
Will  you  do  it }  It  is  for  the  greatest  thing  in  the  world.  You 
might  begin  by  reading  it  every  day,  especially  the  verses 
which  describe  the  perfect  character,  'Love  sufFereth  long,  and 
is  kind;  love  envieth  not;  love  vaunteth  not  itself.'  Get  these 
ingredients  into  your  life.  Then  everything  that  you  do  is 
eternal.  It  is  worth  doing.  It  is  worth  giving  time  to.  No 
man  can  become  a  saint  in  his  sleep ;  and  to  fulfil  the  condi- 
tion required  demands  a  certain  amount  of  prayer  and  medi- 
tation and  time,  just  as  improvement  in  any  direction,  bodily 
or  mental,  requires  preparation  and  care.  Address  yourself  to 
that  one  thing;  at  any  cost  have  this  transcendent  character 
exchanged  for  yours.  You  will  find  as  you  look  back  upon 
your  life  that  the  moments  that  stand  out,  the  moments  when 
you  have  really  lived,  are  the  moments  when  you  have  done 
things  in  a  spirit  of  love.  As  memory  scans  the  past,  above 
and  beyond  all  the  transitory  pleasures  of  life,  there  leap  for- 
ward those  supreme  hours  when  you  have  been  enabled  to  do 
unnoticed  kindnesses  to  those  round  about  you,  things  too 
trifling  to  speak  about,  but  which  you  feel  have  entered  into 
your  eternal  life.  I  have  seen  almost  all  the  beautiful  things 
God  has  made:  I  have  enjoyed  almost  every  pleasure  he  has 
planned  for  man:  and  yet  as  I  look  back  I  see  standing  out 
above  all  the  life  that  has  gone,  four  or  five  short  experiences 
when  the  love  of  God  reflected  itself  in  some  poor  imitation, 
some  small  act  of  love  of  mine,  and  these  seem  to  be  the  things 
which  alone  of  all  one's  life  abide.    Everything  else  in  all  our 


163  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

lives  is  transitory.  Every  other  good  is  visionary.  But  the 
acts  of  love  which  no  man  knows  about  or  can  ever  know 
about — they  never  fail." 

Drummond:   The   Greatest   Thing  in  the   World,  pages 
59-61. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  163 


Study  XIV.     How  to  Know  the  Particular  Will  of  God.     (a)  The 
Views  of  Modern  Religious  Leaders 

FIFTH  DAY 

Robert  E.  Speer— "This  is  the  Will  of  God:  (1)  That  Ye  Believe  in 
Christ,  John  6:29.  (2)  That  Ye  be  Sanctified,  I  Thess.  4: 3.  (3) 
That  No  One  Should  Perish,  Matt.  18:  14" 

"So  clearly  that  we  may  never  miss  it,  the  Bible  suggests 
the  three  great  outlines  of  God's  will.  All  the  rest  is  com- 
paratively unimportant  detail.  The  will  of  God  for  every 
man  and  woman  is  this,  first  of  all:  'This  is  the  work  (or  the 
will)  of  God,  that  ye  should  believe  on  him  whom  God  hath 
sent.'  That  is  first.  No  one  of  us  can  ever  discover  any- 
thing else  about  the  will  of  God  until  we  have  taken  that  first 
step.  The  first  will  of  God  for  every  man  and  woman  is  that 
the  child  of  God  should  enter  into  Christ's  life,  and  believe 
on  him.  There  are  many  ways  of  stating  this  truth.  Jesus, 
of  course,  chose  the  best  of  them  all:  that  the  will  of  God 
consisted  in  believing  in  him,  consisted  in  entering  into  his 
friendship,  in  getting  into  moral  and  spiritual  sympathy  with 
him,  in  making  a  complete  surrender  of  life  to  him.  That  is 
the  will  of  God  for  each  of  us. 

"What  is  next.''  'This  is  the  will  of  God,  even  your  sancti- 
fication,'  your  holiness  of  life;  that  we  should  go  in  Christ's 
fellowship  to  a  life  of  Christ's  fullness,  to  a  life  enriched  with 
all  that  Christ  came  to  bring,  to  a  life  in  which  Christ  him- 
self is  all  that  he  can  be  to  the  souls  of  men. 

"And  what  is  third  .^  'It  is  not  God's  will  that  any  man 
should  perish.'  It  is  God's  will  that  all  should  come  unto 
life.  However  narrow  you  and  I  may  be,  God  has  a  heart  of 
universal  love.  He  would  save  every  man  if  he  could.  His 
love  is  so  large  that  every  soul  in  the  world  is  embraced  in 
it,  and  only  those  fall  out  of  it  who  antagonize  his  will." 

Speer:  "Remember  Jesw  Chrisi,"  pages  105-107. 


164  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  XIV.     How  to  Know  the  Particular  Will  of  God.     (a)  The 
Views  of  Modern  Religious  Leaders 

SIXTH  DAY 

Lyman  Abbott — "Follow  Christ  in  Your  Life" 

"What  shall  I  do  to  get  this  fellowship  with  the  Great 
Companion  and  the  fruits  of  this  fellowship?  Follow  Christ 
in  your  life,  and  leave  him  to  bring  to  you  the  fellowship  and 

its    fruits Forget   yourself,    and    think    only    of    your 

duty.  Do  what  Christ  bids  you  do,  regardless  of  the  question 
whether  he  gives  you  peace  for  doing  it  or  not.  Read  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount,  and  then  try  to  live  it.  'Let  your  light 
so  shine.'  Do  you  know,  or  can  you  find,  any  darkened  home.'* 
Go  into  it  and  carry  the  illumination  of  a  bright  and  cheery 
presence.  'Love  your  enemies.'  Do  you  know  any  one  who 
has  done  you  an  ill  turn.?  Study  how  you  can  do  him  a  good 
turn.  Give  the  whole  of  your  mind  to  doing  each  hour  the 
duty  which  lies  next  to  you.  And  when  the  day  is  over,  waste 
no  time  in  an  idle  review  to  see  whether  you  have  done  your 
duty  well  or  not.  Put  your  thoughts  on  the  morrow,  on  the 
question  what  you  can  find  to  do  to  make  some  one  happier 
and  better  for  your  being  in  the  world.  If  you  have  peace 
be  glad  of  it.  If  you  have  no  peace,  go  on  just  the  same,  re- 
solved to  show  yourself,  the  world,  and  your  Master  how  loyal 
you  can  be  to  your  own  life,  to  your  fellowmen,  and  to  him." 

Abbott:  The  Great  Companion,  pages  118, 119,128, 12^. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  165 

Study  XIV.     How  to  Know  the  Particular  Will  of  God.     (a)  The 
Views  of  Modern  Religious  Leaders 

SEVENTH  DAY 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  each  one  of  these  six  men 
found  God  as  a  present  counselor  and  companion  through 
that  standard  which  he  himself  selected.  Which  one  of  the  six 
shall  we  select  as  our  absolute  standard  to  recommend  to  all 
men.''  Bushnell  says,  "Do  the  right" — but  what  is  the  right .^ 
Different  men  have  different  standards;  Bushnell's  standard 
is  comprehensive  but  too  general.  Mozley  says,  "Love" — but 
do  the  majority  of  men  understand  love  in  the  sense  in  which 
he  meant  it?  This  again  is  comprehensive  but  too  general. 
Robertson  says,  "Be  generous,  chaste,  true  and  brave" ;  here 
is  an  attempt  to  analyze  Bushnell's  "The  right"  into  its 
elements ;  but  are  not  these  mostly  of  one  sort — the  aggressive 
rather  than  the  self-effacing  virtues .''  Henry  Drummond  says, 
"Practice  I  Cor.  13  *''^."  Just  the  opposite  objection  may  be 
brought  to  this ;  it  is  not  complete  in  that  it  is  concerned  al- 
most entirely  with  the  self-effacing  virtues  at  the  expense  of 
the  aggressive.  Speer  says,  "Sanctify  yourself,  believe  on 
Christ,  and  devote  yourself  to  his  program  for  the  salvation  of 
the  world" ;  here  we  have  the  aggressive  and  the  self-effacing 
virtues  brought  together,  but  in  too  technical  terms  to  be 
practical  for  the  novice.  "What,"  he  asks,  "is  sanctification, 
and  what  is  it  to  believe  on  Christ,  what  creed  and  what  method 
of  work  am  I  to  follow?"  Lyman  Abbott  says,  "Follow  Christ 
in  your  life";  everything  is  contained  in  this,  but  the  ordinary 
man  needs  more  specific  and  detailed  instruction. 

Placing  these  six  proposed  standards  before  us,  studying 
the  full  meaning  of  all  the  words  used  in  them,  can  we  re- 
duce them  to  three  of  four  basic  fundamental  principles 
which  will  include  them  all  and  which  their  respective  pro- 
posers found  or  read  into  them  from  innate  moral  standards? 

Are  there  absolute  standards  of  right  and  wrong?  How 
did  Jesus  find  out  the  particular  will  of  God  for  himself? 
He  says  that  "he  did  always  the  things  which  were  pleasing 


166  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

to  God"  (John  8  ^^)  and  the  result  was  that  he  was  sure  of 
God's  presence  and  guidance  (John  8  ^^  first  half).  What 
were  these  things  that  were  pleasing  to  God? 

Let  us  go  back  then  to  the  teaching  of  Jesus  and  the 
Apostles  to  see  if  we  can  reconstruct  the  touchstone  which  they 
must  have  applied  to  every  question  which  arose,  to  discover 
the  particular  will  of  God  for  each  step  in  their  lives. 


STUDY    XV 

How  to  Know  the  Particular  Will  of  God     (b)    The  Fourfold  Touch* 
atone  of  Jesus  and  the  Apostles 

J  )  jruRiTV — Matt.  5:  1^9.         Unselfishness — Luke  14:  33. 


j  Pu 
/  He 


ONESTY — Luke  16:  11.     Love — John  15:  12. 

"For  this  is  the  will  of  Ood  ....  that  ye  abstain  from  forni- 
cation, that  each  one  of  you  know  how  to  possess  himself  of  his  own 
vessel  in  sanctification  and  honor  [purity]  ....  that  no  man  over- 
reach and  wrong  his  brother  in  the  matter  [honesty]  ....  but  con- 
cerning love  of  the  brethren  ye  have  no  need  that  one  write  unto  you 
[love]  ....  and  that  ye  studj^  to  be  quiet,  and  to  do  your  own  busi- 
ness and  to  work  with  your  hands  [unselfishness]. — /  Thess.  4-' 3-12. 

"Wherefore,  putting  away  falsehood,  speak  ye  truth  each  one 
with  his  neighbor  ....  let  him  that  stole  steal  no  more   [honesty] 

and  be  ye  kind  one  to  another,  tenderhearted,  forgiving  each 

other  [unselfishness]  ....  and  walk  in  love,  even  as  Christ  .... 
gave  himself  [love]  ....  but  fornication,  and  all  uncleanness,  let 
it  not  even  be  named  among  you  ....  nor  filthiness  [purity]  .... 
wherefore  be  ye  not  foolish,  but  understand  what  the  will  of  the 
Lord  is."  —Eph.  4:25—5:17. 

"Set  your  mind  on  the  things  that  are  above  ....  put  to  death 
therefore  your  members  which  are  upon  the  earth;  fornication,  un- 
cleanness, passion,  evil  desire  [purity]  ....  lie  not  one  to  another 
[honesty]  ....  put  on  therefore  ....  a  heart  of  compassion, 
kindness,  lowliness,  meekness,  longsuffering;  forbearing  one  another 
and  forgiving  each  other,  if  any  man  hath  a  complaint  against  any 
[unselfishness];  ....  and   above  all  things  put   on  love    [love]." 

—Col.  3:2-14. 

"But  the  wisdom  that  is  from  above  is  first  pure  [purity],  then 
peaceable,  gentle,  easy  to  be  entreated,  full  of  mercy  [unselfishness] 
and  good  fruits  [love],  without  variance,  without  hypocrisy  [hon- 
esty]. —James  3:17. 

"Do  not  kill,  do  not  commit  adultery  [purity]:  do  not  steal, 
do  not  bear  false  witness,  do  not  defraud  [honesty],  honor  thy 
father  and  mother,  ....  go,  sell  what  thou  hast  [unselfishness], 
give  to  the  poor,  ....  and  come,  follow  me  [love]." 

Jesus  to  the  Rich  Young  Ruler — Mark  10:19-21, 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Speer.      The    Principles    of   Jesus.      Chapter    VI. — ^"Jesus    and 
Standards." 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  169 


Study  XV.     How  to  Know  the  Particular  Will  of  God.     (b)  The 
Fourfold  Touchstone  of  Jesus  and  the  Apostles 

FIRST  DAY 

The  Absolute  Standards  of  Jesus 

'  Purity— Matt.  5:  27-32. 
Honesty— John  8:  44.,  45,  46;  Luke  16:  11. 
Unselfishness — Luke  14:  33. 
Love — John  15:  13. 

Read  carefully  Speer,  The  Principles  of  Jesus.  Chapter 
VI. — "Jesus  and  Standards." 

Are  there  absolute  standards  of  right  and  wrong?  How 
did  Jesus  find  out  the  will  of  God  for  himself.''  He  says 
that  he  did  always  [i.e.  without  exception]  the  things  which 
were  pleasing  to  God.  (John  8  "".)  We  are  to  infer  that 
through  this  act  of  his  he  cleaned  and  strengthened  his  will 
to  receive  the  compelling  conviction  from  God.  The  result 
was  that  he  was  sure  of  God's  presence  and  guidance  (John 
8  ^®,  first  half).  But  what  were  these  things  that  were  pleas- 
ing to  God .'' 

Mr.  Robert  E.  Speer  has  reconstructed  from  the  teaching 
of  Jesus  the  four  standards  in  regard  to  which  he  never 
allowed  himself  an  exception  and  with  reference  to  which  his 
teaching  is  absolute  and  unyielding.  Jesus  gives  us  no  direct 
teaching  in  regard  to  such  things  as  smoking,  drinking,  card 
playing,  theatre,  dancing,  etc.  He  recognized  that  some  men 
could  decide  one  way  and  others  just  the  opposite  on  like  ques- 
tions and  yet  both  sides  be  true  Christians.  But  in  regard 
to  four  things  there  was  no  such  option.  A  man  viust  be 
pure,  he  must  be  honest,  he  must  be  unselfish,  he  must  express 
himself  in  deeds  of  love  or  else  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of 
God.    There  is  no  exception  to  be  made  on  these  four  counts. 


170  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  XV.     How  to  Know  the  Particular  Will  of  God.     (b)  The 
Fourfold  Touchstone  of  Jesus  and  the  Apostles 

SECOND  DAY 

These  Standards  can  be  Easily  Comprehended  by  all  Men.     They  are 
Unanswerable  when  once  Stated 

John  7:  53 — 8:  ll=Purity  an  unanswerable  standard. 
Matt.  21:  28-32= Honesty  an  unanswerable  standard. 
Mark  10:  17-22= Unselfishness  an  unanswerable  standard. 
Luke  10:  25-37= Love  an  unanswerable  standard. 

The  peculiarity  of  these  four  standards  is  that,  in  the  first 
place,  they  are  so  simple  that  any  man  can  understand  them 
himself  when  they  are  once  stated,  no  matter  how  simple  he 
may  be;  and  that  in  the  second  place  they  are  so  fundamental 
that  no  man  dares  deny  that  they  should  be  followed  by  others, 
no  matter  how  clever  and  wicked  he  may  be.  They  need  no 
explanation  or  defense  when  once  stated.  The  reason  is  that 
there  is  inborn  in  all  humanity  the  distinction  between  right 
and  wrong  and  these  standards  are  the  four  elements  of 
right. 

"If  there  be  no  God  and  no  future  state,  yet  even  then 
it  is  better  to  be  generous  than  selfish,  better  to  be  chaste 
than  licentious,  better  to  be  true  than  false,  better  to  be  brave 
than  to  be  a  coward." 

F.   W.   EOBERTSON. 


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112 


THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  XV.     How  to  Know  the  Particular  Will  of  God.     (b)  The 
Fourfold  Touchstone  of  Jesus  and  the  Apostles 

FOURTH  DAY 

Their  Interpretation  and  Practical  Application  by  the  Apostles  as  the 
Means  of  Determining  God's  Will 

I  Thess.  4:  3-12. 

Romans  12:  1—13:  10. 

Col.  3:  2-14. 

Eph.  4:  25—5:   17. 

James  3:  17.  , 

I  Peter  1st  and  2d  chapters. 


Introductory 
Phrase. 


Purity 
Honesty 


I  Thess.  4:  3-12        Col.  3:  2-14.       Eph.  4:  25—5:  17.      James  3:  17. 

"This  is  the       "Set  your      "Understand      "Wisdom 
will  of  God."      minds  on"      what  the  will     from  above" 
verse  3  verse  2       of  the  Lord  is. ' ' 

5:  17 


verses  3-5 
verse  6 


verses  5-8 
verses  9-11 


Unselfishness  verses  11,  12   verses  12,  13 
Love  verses  9,  10         verse  14 


5:3-14 
4:  25-30 

4:  31,  32 
5:  1,  2 


"Pure" 

"Without 

variance, 

without 

hypocrisy" 

"Peaceable," 
etc. 

"Good  fruits" 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  173 

Study  XV.     How  to  Know  the  Particular  Will  of  God.     (b)  The 
Fourfold  Touchstone  of  Jesus  and  the  Apostles 

FIFTH  DAY 

Their  Practical  Use  Today  as  a  Touchstone  to  Determine  the  Particular 
Will  of  God  for  Each  Step  of  Our  Career 

To  every  problem^  great  or  small,  which  presents  itself — 
in  a  small  matter  like  one's  bearing  in  a  game  of  sport,  in  a 
large  matter  like  the  choice  of  a  life  career — the  Christian 
who  is  absolutely  surrendered  to  God  asks  himself  this 
question:  "Is  the  step  which  I  had  planned  to  take  an  ab- 
solutely pure  one.''  is  it  an  absolutely  honest  one?  is  it  the 
most  unselfish  one.''  is  it  the  fullest  possible  expression  of  my 
love."*  If  it  is  every  one  of  these  four,  it  must  be  the  will  of 
God  for  me.  If  it  fails  to  measure  up  to  any  one  of  these  four 
standards  it  cannot  be  God's  will  and  I  must  not  take  it,  no 
matter  what  the  refusal  may  cost  me  in  suffering,  mental  or 
physical."  As  he  holds  his  instrument  of  apprehension — the 
human  will — resolutely  to  this  standard,  the  Christian  is 
conscious  of  its  becoming  strong  both  to  know  and  to  do 
God's  will  and  there  comes  the  undoubted,  the  compelling 
conviction  which  guides  and  impels  him  forward. 


This  seems  like  a  simple  thing,  but  in  it  lies  the  secret  of 
the  miracle  of  obedience.  "It  has  been  before  the  world  these 
eighteen  hundred  years  yet  few  have  even  found  it  out  today." 
(Drummond,  The  Ideal  Life,  page  229.)  It  is  like  the  story 
in  the  Old  Testament.  "My  father,  if  the  prophet  had  bid 
thee  do  some  great  thing,  wouldest  thou  not  have  done  it  ?  how 
much  rather  when  he  saith  to  thee.  Wash  and  be  clean." 
(II  Kings  5  ".) 

"How  this  finite  and  this  infinite  are  brought  to  touch, 
how  this  invisible  will  of  God  is  brought  to  the  temporal 
heart,   must    ever    remain    unknown.      The    mysterious    meet- 


174  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

ing  place  in  the  prepared  and  willing  heart  between  the 
human  and  divine — where  precisely  the  will  is  finally  moved 
into  line  with  God's — of  these  things  knoweth  no  man,  save 
only  the  spirit  of  God." 

Drummond:  The  Ideal  Life,  page  818. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  175 


Study  XV.     How  to  Know  the  Particular  Will  of  God.     (b)  The 
Fourfold  Touchstone  of  Jesus  and  the  Apostles 

SIXTH  DAY 

The  Paradox  of  the  Touchstone — an  Absolutely  Rigid  Touchstone  to 
Which  no  Exception  may  be  Made  and  yet  an  Infinite  Variety  of 
Results,  Some  Exactly  Opposite 

Luke  7  ^'■^'. 

This  touchstone  helps  young  men  to  reach  a  decision  in 
the  most  perplexing  question  as  to  what  to  do  in  regard  to  the 
so-called  doubtful  pleasures — smoking,  drinking,  theatre, 
dancing,  etc.  Let  a  young  man  ask  himself.  Can  I  do  these 
things  and  remain  pure,  honest,  unselfish  and  loving.'*  A  man 
must  be  absolutely  honest  with  himself,  however,  in  deciding 
whether  he  is  pure,  honest,  unselfish  and  loving.  Let  us  take 
a  practical  example,  e.  g.  smoking. 

Shall  I  smoke?  1.  Does  it  affect  my  purity — excite  the 
sensual.''  If  it  does  it  must  go — the  alternative  is  given  in 
Jesus'  own  words  (Matt.  5  ~^'  ^°). 

2.  Does  it  affect  my  honesty?  Granted  that  I  can  re- 
main pure,  am  I  deceiving  some  parents  or  relatives  who  hold 
narrower  views  about  it.''     If  so,  I  must  stop — a  lie  is  damning. 

3.  Does  it  affect  my  unselfishness?  Granted  that  I  am 
pure  and  honest  in  it,  do  I  forget  the  rights  of  others  in  my 
own  personal  self-gratification.^  am  I  selfish  or  irritable  with- 
out it?  If  so  I  must  stop — selfishness  is  the  death  of  the 
soul. 

4.  Does  it  affect  my  active  service  of  others?  Granted 
that  I  am  pure  and  honest  and  unselfish  in  it,  does  it  take 
ray  time  and  energy?  Life  is  short — one  must  use  all  the  mo- 
tive power.    Waste  is  a  crime  and  lovelessness  is  death 


176  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  XV.     How  to  Know  the  Particular  Will  of  God.     (b)  The 
Fourfold  Touchstone  of  Jesus  and  the  Apostles 

SEVENTH  DAY— REVIEW 

1.  Was  Jesus  ever  impure.'' 

2.  Was  Jesus  ever  dishonest? 

3.  Was  Jesus  ever  selfish? 

4.  Was  Jesus  ever  unloving? 
Cite  instances. 


STUDY    XVI 

The  Fourfold  Touchstone — (a)     The  First  Test — Purity 

"Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  ....  with  all  thy  strength." 

—Mark  12:  SO. 

"If  thy  right  eye  causeth  thee  to  stumble,  pluck  it  out,  and  cast 
it  from  thee."  —Matt.  5:29. 

"Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart:  for  they  shall  see  God." 

—Matt.  5:8. 

"For  this  is  the  will  of  God  ....  that  ye  abstain  from  forni- 
cation; that  each  one  of  you  know  how  to  possess  himself  of  his  own 
vessel  in  sanctification  and  honor."  — I   Thess.  4-  ^>  4' 

"But  fornication,  and  all  uncleanness  ....  let  it  not  be  named 
among  you  ....  nor  filthiness  nor  foolish  talking,  or  jesting. 
....  Wherefore  be  ye  not  foolish,  but  understand  what  the  will  of 
the  Lord  is."  —Eph.  5:3,  17. 

"Set  your  mind  on  the  things  that  are  above Put  to  death 

therefore  your  members  which  are  upon  the  earth;  fornication,  un- 
cleanness, passion,  evil  desire."  — Col.  3:2,5. 

"But  the  wisdom  that  is  from  above  is  first  pure." — James  3:17. 

"But  if  thou  ....  gloriest  in  God,  and  knowest  his  will  .... 
thou  that  sayest  a  man  should  not  commit  adultery,  dost  thou  com- 
mit adultery?"  —Rom.  2:  17,  18,  22. 

"And  they  that  are  in  the  flesh  cannot  please  God." — Rom.  8:8. 

Is  THE   STEP   WHICH   I    HAD  PLANNED  TO  TAKE   AN    ABSOLUTELY   PUBE 

ONE?     If  it  is  not  it  cannot  be  God's  will  for  my  life. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Bushnell.     The   New  Life.     No.   XIV.— "The  Lost   Puritv   Re-         I 

Btored."  % 

* 

Speer.  The  Marks  of  a  Man.    "Purity.— A  Plea  for  Ignorance." 


I 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  179 

Study  XVI.     The  Fourfold  Touchstone,     (a)  The  First  Test— Purity 

FIRST  DAY 

What  Do  We  Mean  by  Purity  ? 

Matt.  5»'"-3-;  II  Peter  2  ^^ 

"If  we  go  to  analogy,  purity  is,  in  character,  what  trans- 
parency is  in  the  crystal.  It  is  water  flowing,  unmixed  and 
clear,  from  the  mountain  spring.  Or  it  is  the  white  of  snow. 
Or  it  is  the  clear  open  heaven,  through  which  the  sparkling 
stars  appear,  hidden  by  no  mist  of  obstruction.  Or  it  is  the 
pure  light  itself  in  which  they  shine.  A  pure  character  is 
that,  in  mind  and  feeling  and  spirit  of  life,  which  all  these 
clear,  untarnished  symbols  of  nature,  image,  in  their  lower 
and  merely  sensible  sphere,  to  our  outward  eye." 

"Labor  then  with  all  closest,  most  passionate  application 
to  conceive  purity,  what  it  would  be  to  you  if  your  soul  were 
in  it ;  the  consciousness  of  it ;  the  essential  peace ;  the  elevation 
above  all  passion  and  all  unregulated  impulse;  the  singleness 
and  simplicity  of  it;  the  glowing  shapes  and  glorified  visions 
of  a  pure  imagination;  the  oneness  of  your  soul  with  God; 
the  conscious  participation  of  what  is  highest  in  God — his 
untemptable  chastity  in  goodness  and  truth." 

Bushnell:  The  New  Life,  pages  263-^,  273. 

If  carried  to  its  full  meaning  absolute  purity  would  in- 
clude victory  over  every  sin  (Matt.  5  **;  Gal.  5  ^^'  ^^).  Prac- 
tically we  confine  it  to  the  mastery  of  the  animal,  fleshly 
instincts  in  our  nature.  Impurity  is  yielding  our  will  to  the 
animal  either  in  the  realm  of  thought  or  of  act.  Purity  is  the 
mastery  of  the  animal  (not  the  extinction  of  the  sexual)  by 
the  human  will. 

An  absolutely  pure  man  from  the  Christian  standpoint: 

1.  May  have  sexual  suggestions  and  images  come  to  his 
mind  (John  7  ^' — 8  ^^).  Impurity  enters  with  the  act  of  will 
which  allows  them  to  stay  in  artificial  contexts. 

2.  Is  controlled  in  his  married  life  by  considerations  of 
efficiency  in  his  work,  of  health,  of  unselfishness  and  of  love 


180  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

(I  Cor.  7  ^"^;  Mark  10  ®'^^).  Questions  of  purity  may  arise  in 
marriage  as  without ;  as  in  relation  to  the  avoidance  of  children^ 
etc. 

"Fastidiousness  ....  is  not  any  evidence  of  purity  but 

the    contrary When   any    disciple,   therefore,    calls    it 

purity  to  be  shocked  or  repelled  by  the  scripture  names  of  sins 
or  the  practical  works  of  mercy  needed  in  a  world  of  shame 
and  defilement,  he  reveals  therein  a  bad  imagination  and  a  mind 
that  is  itself  defiled." 

BusHNELL :  Ibid.,  page  278. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  181 

Study  XVI.     The  Fourfold  Touchstone,    (a)  The  First  Test— Purity 

SECOND  DAY 

Subtle  Forms  of  Impurity 

I  Cor.  3  ^  10  ^  RomJ_^S  l6  "•  ^«;  Eph.  2  -•  ^  5'-*; 

II  Tim.  2";  Titus  1  ^^ 

Mark  4";  Matt.  14  «-^°. 

"[The  impure  man]  before  he  does  wrong  makes  all 
manner  of  subtle  excuse." 

Fragment  of  a  Lost  Gospel  (Oxyrhynchus  Papyri,  Pt.  V., 
page?,  1907). 

"Foul  stories  and  impure  jests  and  innuendoes,  more 
clearly  than  oaths  and  curses  befoul  the  souls  of  those  who 
utter  them  while  they  lead  the  hearers  into  sin.  Such  things 
rob  all  who  are  concerned  in  them,  either  as  speakers 
or  listeners,  of  two  things  which  are  the  chief  safeguards  of 
virtue — ^the  fear  of  God  and  the  fear  of  sin.  They  create  an 
atmosphere  in  which  men  sin  with  a  light  heart,  because  the 
grossest  sins  are  made  to  look  not  only  attractive  and  easy, 
but  amusing.  What  can  be  made  to  seem  laughable  is  sup- 
posed to  be  not  very  serious." 

Plummer:  Expositor's  Bible,  James,  page  188. 

Impure  imaginations  and  thoughts. 

Objects  pure  in  themselves  which  by  association  recall 
impure  images. 

Slighting  references  to   women. 

Ballet — Many  forms  of  vaudeville  and  much  in  modern 
drama. 

Many  modern  so-called  physical  culture  publications. 

Biographs  and  living  pictures. 

Advertisements  which  appeal  to  the  passions  and  much 
which  goes  under  the  name  of  "art"  in  modern  magazines. 

Certain  forms  of  souvenir  postal  cards. 

Some  fiction,  art,  and  dress  styles. 

Flirtation  where  no  true  bond  of  love  is  intended. 


182  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

Study  XVI.    The  Fourfold  Touchstone,     (a)  The  First  Test— Purity 

THIRD  DAY 

The  Physical,  Intellectual,  Social  and  Spiritual  Results  of  Impurity 

I  Cor.  3i«'i%  6  9.12-20.  j^ou,_  126,27.32^  6  ^^''^  Matt. 
5  29'  30;  James  1  "•  ^^  Rev.  21  «'  ",  22  ^^  II  Peter  2  »•  ^°'  ^«' '». 

"But  give  heed  lest  ye  also  suffer  the  same  things  as  they; 
for  the  evil  doers  among  men  receive  their  reward  not  among 
the  living  only  but  also  await  punishment  and  much  torture." 

Fragment  of  Lost  Gospel,  Ibid. 

Physical,  loss  of  full  efficiency  of  bodily  powers. 
Gal.  6  ^ ;  I  Cor.  6  ^^ ;  Rom.  7  ^ — the  impure  man  is  only 
one  tenth  of  a  man: 

"My  good  blade  carves  the  casques  of  men, 
My  tough  lance  thrusteth  sure, 
My  strength  is  as  the  strength  of  ten 
Because  my  heart  is  pure." 

Tennyson:  Sir  Oalahad. 

Intellectual,  loss  of  mind  powers  (Rom.  7  ^^). 

"The  passions  are  loose  upon  the  reason,  the  will  over- 
turns the  conscience,  the  desires  become  unruly,  the  thoughts 
are,  some  of  them,  suggested  by  the  natural  law  of  the  mind, 
and  some  are  thrust  in  by  the  disorders  of  vitiated  feeling, 
corrupt  imagination,  disordered  memory  and  morbid  im- 
pulse  The  man  is  corrupted,  as  we  say,  and  the  word 

corrupt  means   broken  together,  dissolved   into  mixture   and 
confusion." 

Bushnell:  Ibid.,  page  265. 

Social,  lack  of  self-respect,  hence  morbid  self-conscious- 
ness (Rom.  7  ^®). 

Spiritual,  cowardly  shrinking  from  service  of  others  and 
from  duty,  and  separation  from  God  (Rom.  7  ^^  8  *;  Eph.  5  '; 
I  Peter  2  ";  I  John  2  ^«'  ^' ;  Rev.  22  "-  ^=). 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  188 

"It  was  not  the  mere  muscle  of  the  Teuton  which  enabled 

him  to  crush  the  decrepit  and  debauched  slave  nations 

It  had  given  him  more,  that  purity  of  his:  it  had  given  him 
as  it  may  give  you,  gentlemen,  a  cahn  and  steady  brain,  and 
a  free  and  loyal  heart;  the  energy  which  springs  from  health; 
the  self-respect  which  comes  from  self-restraint;  and  the  spirit 
which  shrinks  from  neither  God  nor  man,  and  feels  it  light 
to  die  for  wife  and  child,  for  people  and  for  Queen." 

Kingsley:  The  Roman  and  the  Teuton,  page  46. 


Study  XVI.     The  Fourfold  Touchstone,     (a)  The  First  Test- Purity 

FOURTH  DAY 

The  Purity  of  Jesus 

Heb.  2^«,  41=,  T-'';  John  8  ^«. 

See  Speer,  The  Principles  of  Jesus.     Chapter  XVII. — 
"Jesus  and  Women." 


184  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  XVL     The  Fourfold  Touchstone,     (a)  The  First  Test— Purity 

FIFTH  DAY 

Is  a  Conflict  Possible  Between  the  Demands  of  Purity  and  Those  of 
Honesty,  Unselfishness  or  Love  (Self-expression)  P 

1.  True  purity  presupposes  honesty  (Rom.  1  ^*'  -^). 

2.  True  purity  presupposes  victory  over  self  (Eph.  4^®; 
Mark  720-23.  1  petgy  41,2-) 

3.  True  purity  presupposes  love  (self-expression)  (I  Tim. 
1^). 

"There  are  no  fires  that  will  melt  out  our  dross  and 
corrupt  particles  like  God's  refining  fires  of  duty  and  trial, 
living  as  he  sends  us  to  live,  in  the  open  field  of  the  world's 
sins  and  sorrows — its  plausibilities  and  lies — its  persecutions, 
animosities,  and  fears — its  eager  delights  and  bitter  wants. 
....   How  necessary  it  is   for  the  soul  to   be  aired  in  the 

outward  exposures  of  the  world Here  alone  in  these 

common  exposures  of  work  and  contacts  of  duty  is  true 
Christian  purity  itself  successfully  cultivated.  Alas  for  the 
man  who  is  obliged  to  be  shut  up  to  himself,  as  in  the  convent 
life,  to  face  his  own  lusts,  disorders  and  passions,  and  strangle 
them,  in  direct  conflict,  with  nothing  else  to  do  or  to  occupy 
the  soul." 

Bushnell:  Ibid.,  pages  274,  ^75. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  185 

Study  XVI.     The  Fourfold  Touchstone,     (a)  The  First  Test— Purity 

SIXTH  DAY 

How  to  Grow  in  Purity 

Gal.  5  ";  II  Cor.  10  ^«;  Rom.  6  '^-  ",  8  ^°,  12  ^- %  13  ^*; 
Col,  g"'-'^  II  Tim.  2  ". 

Matt.  26  ";  Acts  15  »;  James  1  ",  4  ^-  «;  John  8  »« ;  15  '. 


I  John  3  2-  3. 

"The  way  to  purity  is  difficult  of  discovery  only  to  those 
who  practically  do  not  care  to  find  it." 

Bushnell:  Ibid.,  page  273. 

"Can  the  soul's  chastity,  lost  once,  ever  be  recovered  ?  .  .  . 

Let  no  such  doubt  be  harbored God  has  undertaken 

to  redeem  the  fall  of  sin  and  restore  the  soul  to  purity 

Browned  by  sin,  mottled  by  the  stains  of  a  corrupted  life, 

he  has  undertaken  still  to  give  it  the  whiteness  of  snow 

God  can  raise  it  to  a  purity  that  is  higher  even  than  the 
purity  of  an  intact  virtue.  He  can  make  us  untemptably 
pure."  Bushnell:  Ibid.,  pages  271,  272. 

"Christ  in  other  words,  may  be  so  completely  put  on  that 
the  whole  consciousness  may  be  of  him,  and  all  the  motions 
of  sins  give  way  to  the  dominating  efficacy  of  his  harmonious 
and  perfect  mind  ....  the  very  current  of  thought,  as  it  is 
propagated  in  the  mind,  may  become  so  purified  that,  when 
the  will  does  not  interfere  and  the  mind  is  allowed,  for  an 
hour,  to  run  in  its  own  way,  without  hindrance,  one  thing 
suggesting  another  as  in  revery,  there  may  yet  be  no  evil, 
wicked  or  foul  suggestion  thrust  into  it.  Or  in  the  state  of 
sleep,  where  the  will  never  interferes,  but  the  thoughts  rush 
on  by  a  law  of  their  own,  the  mixed  causes  of  corruption  may 
be  so  far  cleared  away,  and  the  soul  restored  to  such  sim- 
plicity and  pureness,  that  the  dreams  will  be  only  dreams  of 
love  and  beauty;  peaceful  and  clear  and  happy,  somewhat  as 
we  may  imagine  the  waking  thoughts  of  angels  to  be." 

Bushnell:  Ibid.,  pages  267,  270. 


186  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

Study  XVI.     The  Fourfold  Touchstone,     (a)  The  First  Test— Purity 

SEVENTH  DAY— REVIEW 

1.  What  other  religions  beside  Christianity  require  chas- 
tity of  their  followers.'' 

2.  The  problem  of  the  nude  in  art.  (Titus  1  ^^;  Matt. 
5  =^«'  ^\) 

S.  To  what  extent  should  a  Christian  be  ignorant  of  evil? 
Is  knowledge  power?  (II  Cor.  6  ^' ;  Rom.  16  ^^  Eph.  5  ^^-^\) 
(Cf.  Speer,  Marks  of  a  Man.  "Purity — A  Plea  for  Igno- 
rance.") 

4.  How  subtle  are  the  degrading  influences  of  impurity 
on  even  the  most  surrendered  lives?  (John  7  ^^ — 8  ^^;  Mark 
2  "'  ";  John  17  '';  I  Cor.  15  ^^  II  Thess.  3  «.) 

5.  Can  a  man  ever  reach  a  point  where  he  will  not  be 
tempted  to  impurity?     Where  he  will  not  yield  to  impurity? 

6.  The  human  mind  is  like  a  camera  film.  After  exposure 
to  an  impure  thought  or  suggestion  it  is  possible  to  do  one  of 
two  things;  either  to  delay  and  develop  the  plate  which  fixes 
the  picture  permanently  or  instantly  to  flood  the  plate  with 
the  light  of  Jesus — then  the  picture  is  forever  destroyed. 
This  latter  is  what  is  meant  by  putting  on  Jesus.  Pray  in- 
stantly for  him  to  come  and  take  possession  of  that  particular, 
specific  thought  or  picture;  and  mean  it  when  j'^ou  pray.  Do 
not  pray  the  prayer  of  the  temporizer,  "Lord,  make  me  pure, 
but  not  now." 

7.  For  practical  suggestions  regarding  the  physical  helps 
to  a  pure  life  see 

Scudder:  Handbook  for  Young  Men,  Chapters  VIII.,  IX. 

Sperry:  Talks  with  Young  Men,  Chapters  XV.,  XVI.,  XVII. 

Stall:  What  a  Young  Man  Ought  to  Know,  Hindrances  and 
Helps. 

Hall:  Reproduction  and  Sexual  Hygiene,  Chapter  V.,  Hy- 
giene. 


STUDY  xvn 

The  Fourfold  Touchstone — (b)     The  Second  Test — Honesty 

"Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  ....  with  all  thy  mind." 

—Mark  13:  SO. 

"He  that  is  faithful  in  a  very  little  is  faithful  also  in  much;  and 
he  that  is  unrighteous  in  a  very  little  is  unrighteous  also  in  much. 
If  therefore  ye  have  not  been  faithful  in  the  unrighteous  mammon, 
who  will  commit  to  your  trust  the  true  riches?"        — Luke  16:10,  11. 

"And  ye  shall  know  the  truth,  and  the  truth  shall  make  you 
free."  —John  8: 32. 

"Without  are  the  dogs,  and  the  sorcerers,  and  the  fornicators, 
and  the  murderers,  and  the  idolaters,  and  every  one  that  loveth  and 
maketh  a  lie."  —Rev.  22:15. 

"For  this  is  the  will  of  God  ....  that  no  man  transgress 
(m.  r.,  overreach)  and  wrong  his  brother  in  the  matter." 

— /  Thess.  4:3,  6. 

"Wherefore,  putting  away   falsehood,   speak  j'e   truth   each   one 

with    his    neighbor  ....  let    him    that    stole    steal    no    more 

Wherefore  be  ye  not  foolish,  but  understand  what  the  will  of  the 
Lord  is."  —Eph.  4:25,  28;  5: 17. 

"Set  your  mind  on  the  things  that  are  above  ....  lie  not  one 
to  another;  seeing  that  ye  have  put  oflf  the  old  man  with  his  doings." 

—Col.  3:2,  9. 

"But  the  wisdom  that  is  from  above  is  ...  .  without  variance, 
without  hypocrisy."  — James  3:17. 

"But  if  thou  ....  gloriest  in  God,  and  knowest  his  will  .... 
thou  that  preachest  a  man  should  not  steal,  dost  thou  steal?" 

—Rom.  2:17,  18,  21. 

"Fear  them  not,  therefore:  for  there  is  nothing  covered  that 
shall  not  be  revealed;  and  hid  that  shall  not  be  known. 

—Matt.  10:26. 

Is  THE  STEP  WHICH  I  HAD  PLANNED  TO  TAKE  AN  ABSOLUTELY  HON- 
EST   ONE?       If    IT    13    NOT    IT    CANNOT    BE    God's    WILL    FOR    MY    LIFE. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Trumbull.    A  Lie  Never  Justifiable. 
8pe«r.    The  Marks  of  a  Man.— "Truth." 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  180 

Study  XVn.     The  Fourfold  Touchstone,     (b)  The  Second  Test- 
Honesty 

FIRST  DAY 

What  Do  We  Mean  by  Honesty  ? 

Mark  14«^'«^  Titus  1  ^  Rev.  19  ""'^ 

"Character  is  what  a  man  is  in  the  dark." 
If  carried  to  its  full  meaning  absolute  honesty  would  also 
include  victory  over  every  sin,  for  a  man  ought  to  be  honest 
with  himself  and  his  God  as  well  as  with  his  neighbors.  Prac- 
tically we  limit  it  to  the  relations  of  a  man  with  other  men 
and  divide  its  transgression  into  two  main  divisions — lying 
and  stealing.  A  common  element  in  both  is  deception,  and 
the  question  of  honesty  concerns  itself  with  the  motive — the 
voluntary  act. 

(a)  A  lie  is  a  story  told  or  a  part  acted  with  the  intention 
to  deceive. 

(b)  Stealing — "It  will  at  once  be  seen  that  there  are  only 
three  ways  in  which  man  can  come  into  possession  of  any- 
thing; either  by  the  free  gift  of  another  person,  or  by  toil 
which  receives  something  as  legitimate  return,  or  by  theft, 
the  taking  that  from  another  which  belongs  to  him." 

Morgan:  The  Ten  Commandments,  page  90. 

An  absolutely  honest  man  from  Jesus'  standpoint  may 
have  secrets  which  he  refuses  to  tell — dishonesty  comes  when 
he  tells  the  facts  other  than  they  are  or  leads  people  to  believe 
they  are  other  than  they  are. 

"One  of  the  most  beautiful  examples  of  Mr.  Lincoln's 
rigid  honesty  occurred  in  connection  with  the  settlement  of 
his  accounts  with  the  post  office  department  several  years  after- 
wards. It  was  after  he  had  become  a  lawyer  and  had  been  a 
legislator.  He  had  passed  through  a  period  of  great  poverty, 
had  acquired  his  education  in  the  law  in  the  midst  of  many 
perplexities,  inconveniences  and  hardships,  and  had  met  with 
temptations  such  as  few  men  could  resist,  to  make  a  temporary 


190  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

use  of  any  money  he  might  have  in  his  hands.  One  day,  seated 
in  the  law  office  of  his  partner,  the  agent  of  the  post  office 
department  entered  and  enquired  if  Abraham  Lincoln  was 
within.  Mr.  Lincoln  responded  to  his  name,  and  was  informed 
that  the  agent  had  called  to  collect  a  balance  due  to  the  depart- 
ment since  the  discontinuance  of  the  New  Salem  office.  A 
shade  of  perplexity  passed  over  Mr.  Lincoln's  face  which  did 
not  escape  the  notice  of  friends  who  were  present.  One  of 
them  said  at  once:  'Lincoln,  if  you  are  in  want  of  money,  let 
us  help  you.'  He  made  no  reply,  but  suddenly  rose,  and  pulled 
out  from  a  pile  of  books  a  little  old  trunk,  and,  returning  to 
the  table,  asked  the  agent  how  much  the  amount  of  his  debt 
was.  The  sum  was  named,  and  then  Mr.  Lincoln  opened  the 
trunk,  pulled  out  a  little  package  of  coin  wrapped  in  a  cotton 
rag,  and  counted  out  the  exact  sum,  amounting  to  something 
more  than  seventeen  dollars.  After  the  agent  had  left  the 
room,  he  remarked  quietly  that  he  never  used  any  man's  money 
but  his  own.  Although  the  sum  had  been  in  his  hands  during 
all  these  years,  he  had  never  regarded  it  as  available  even  for 
any  temporary  purpose  of  his  own." 

Holland:  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  pages  55,  56. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  191 


Study  XVII.     The  Fourfold  Touchstone,     (b)  The  Second  Test- 
Honesty 

SECOND  DAY 

Subtle  Forms  of  Dishonesty 

Gal.  2^2'";  II  Cor.  12i«-^«;  Rom.  2«;  Luke  3 '''■'*; 
James  5  *;  John  10  \ 

All  bluffing  in  recitation.  Copying  essays  or  outlines. 
Cribbing  words  on  the  pages  of  text-books.  Unauthorized 
helps.  (The  final  test  as  to  whether  they  are  honorable  or  not 
— ask  the  instructor.) 

All  gambling  or  betting. 

Refusing  to  consult  a  doctor  when  one  knows  something 
is  wrong;  unwillingness  to  face  the  whole  truth. 

Purposely  obscure  handwriting  when  one  does  not  know 
how  to  spell  a  word. 

All  hypocrisy  and  all  self-repression.  "There  are  two 
forms  of  hypocrisy;  one  is  pretending  to  be  more  than  you 
are:  the  other,  which  is  just  as  truly  hypocrisy,  is  pretending 
to  be  less  than  you  are"  (John  12  *-•  *^;  John  8  ^^). 

Taking  credit  for  ideas  or  achievements  which  do  not  be- 
long to  one.     Not  keeping  engagements  and  promises. 

Letting  someone  else  suffer  for  one's  transgressions  and 
crimes.     Evasions  of  taxes,  customs-duty,  etc.  (Rom.  13  ^). 

Debts  (Rom.  13  «). 

Sharp  dealing  in  trade  (Luke  16  "•  ";  Prov.  20  ^*). 

Exaggeration  or  play  of  fancy  on  facts  (II  Cor.  4  ',  12  *). 

Mixing  money  accounts. 

Sending  mail  under  a  cheaper  class  than  is  right. 

Telling  the  truth  in  such  a  way  that  it  deceives  others. 

Evasion  of  railway  or  trolley  fare. 

Disclosing  of  personal  confidences. 


192  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  XVIL     The  Fourfold  Touchstone,     (b)  The  Second  Test- 
Honesty 

THIRD  DAY 

The  Physical,  Intellectual,  Social  and  Spiritual  Results  of  Dishonesty 
I  Cor.  6^";  II  Cor.  13  «. 
Physical.     Nervousness  due  to  fear  of  discovery   (John 

3  20,  21.    8  34-)_ 

Intellectual.  A  deceiver  soon  comes  to  distrust  himself 
and  his  mental  judgments  (John  8  *3-45.  g  20,  21^^  "Just  in  so 
far  as  [distrust]  prevails  in  any  life,  even  in  the  most  heroic, 
the  man  fails  and  his  work  will  have  to  be  done  over  again." 

Hughes:  Manliness  of  Christ. 

Social.  (Eph.  4  ^^.)  "You  hold  that  a  lie  is  sometimes 
justifiable.  How  can  I  know  when  you  think  it  is  ?  The  circum- 
stances may  be  such  as  to  lead  me  to  feel  that  at  whatever  cost 
or  pain  to  you,  you  owe  me  the  truth  and  you  may  think  that 
they  are  such  as  to  warrant  your  lying  to  me.  This  transfers 
the  moral  foundations  of  society  from  solid  principle  to  the 
utterly  precarious  and  unreliable  basis  of  individual  caprice." 
Speer:  The  Marks  of  a  Man,  page  23. 

Spiritual.  (Rom.  2«'^;  Rev.  21  ".)  "The  Bible  opens 
with  a  picture  of  the  first  pair  in  Paradise  to  whom  God  tells 
the  simple  truth  and  to  whom  the  enemy  of  man  tells  a  lie; 
and  it  shows  the  ruin  of  mankind  wrought  by  that  lie  and  the 
author  of  the  lie  punished  because  of  its  telling.  The  Bible 
closes  with  a  picture  of  Paradise  into  which  are  gathered  the 
lovers  and  doers  of  truth  and  from  which  is  excluded  every 
one  that  loveth  and  doeth  a  lie,  while  all  liars  are  to  have  their 
part  in  the  lake  that  burneth  with  fire  and  brimstone,  which 
is  the  second  death." 

Trumbull. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  193 


Study  XVII.     The  Fourfold  Touchstone,     (b)  The  Second  Test- 
Honesty 

FOURTH  DAY 

The  Honesty  of  Jesus 

[Isaiah  53  "]. 
John  1  ^\ 

See  Speer,  Principles  of  Jesus.     Chapters  XXXIX.,  XL. 
• — "Jesus  and  Veracity,"  "Jesus  and  Falsehood." 


194  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  XVn.     The  Fourfold  Touchstone,     (b)  The  Second  Test- 
Honesty 

FIFTH  DAY 

Is  a  Conflict  Possible  Between  the  Demands  of  Honesty  and  Those  of 
Purity,  Unselfishness  or  Love  (Self-expression)? 

Gal.  4  '\ 

1.  True  honesty  presupposes  purity  (John  8  **). 

2.  True  honesty  presupposes  mastery  of  self  (II  Thess. 
3  *;  Eph.  4  ^*;  Titus  3  ^.  Cf.  margin  "profess  honest  occu- 
pations.") The  selfish  man  lets  others  do  his  rightful  work 
for  him  and  is  thus  dishonest,  getting  something  for  nothing. 
The  selfish  man  can  never  tell  the  exact  truth  because  uncon- 
sciously his  own  prejudices  color  all  he  says  (John  8  *''). 

3.  True  honesty  presupposes  love  (Eph.  4^^;  James 
3 1*-!*').  The  question  as  to  whether  or  not  to  deceive 
a  sick  man  about  his  condition  or  the  death  of  others  may  well 
be  raised  here.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  problem  is  not  such  an 
excruciating  one  as  it  is  sometimes  made  out.  If  a  man  tells 
the  truth  selfishly^  without  love,  just  because  of  the  innate 
passion  of  some  men  to  be  the  first  to  impart  news  it  may  be 
such  a  shock  as  to  kill  the  sick  man.  In  reality  the  gossiper 
is  not  telling  the  truth.  He  is  overstating.  But  the  exact 
truth,  if  told  in  love,  with  sympathy,  in  such  a  loving  way 
that  the  sick  man  lets  us  share  part  of  the  grief,  is  less 
dangerous  than  suspension  due  to  deceit  and  the  necessity  of 
bearing  one's  burden  alone. 


A  MAN'S  LIFE  WORK  195 


Study  XVn.     The  Fourfold  Touchstone,     (b)  The  Second  Test- 
Honesty 

SIXTH  DAY 

How  to  Grow  in  Honesty 

[Psalm  139] ;  I  Cor.  6  ";  II  Cor.  5^'^°;  Heb.  4  ^\ 
Heb.  12  1;  John  s^^'^^'^^,  18". 

Realize  that  Jesus  is  always  at  your  side  although  you 
do  not  see  him.  He  knows  everything  we  do  (John  4  ^^,  2  ■^). 
Dishonesty  is  always  done  in  what  men  think  is  the  dark.  In 
reality  this  is  not  so  (Ps.  139)-  God  and  Jesus  and  those 
of  our  friends  who  belong  to  the  great  crowd  of  witnesses  see 
everything  we  do.  When  the  latter  were  on  earth — father, 
mother,  sister,  brother,  husband,  wife,  son,  daughter — we 
could  conceal  our  dishonesty  and  sin  from  them.  But  now  do 
not  they  see  everything?  When  the  temptation  to  dishonesty 
comes  pray  that  Jesus  and  they  may  see  what  you  are  about 
to  do.    In  other  words,  put  on  Jesus. 


196  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


^nidy  XVn.     The  Fourfold  Touchstone,     (b)  The  Second  Test^ 

Honesty 

SEVENTH  DAY— REVIEW 

1.  Is  strategy  and  deception  in  athletics  right,  e.g.  curve- 
pitching,  feint-attack,  etc..'' 

2.  What  does  Paul  mean  by  II  Cor.  6*?  Does  this 
justify  deception.'' 

3.  Is  the  alternative  of  death,  either  of  self  or  others,  a 
sufficient  justification  for  not  telling  the  truth .^ 

4.  Is  it  ever  right  to  lie  "that  good  may  come"?  for 
country's  sake?  in  war?  in  court?  in  the  sickroom?  Does  good 
always  come  as  a  result  of  the  lie  of  necessity  or  expediency? 

5.  Was  Martin  Luther's  position  in  regard  to  lying  jus- 
tifiable— "What  is  the  harm  of  a  good,  plump  lie  for  the  sake 
of  the  Christian  church?"  (See  Henderson,  A  Short  His- 
tory of  Germany,  Vol.  I.,  page  372.)  What  was  the  historical 
result  of  this  lie? 


STUDY    XV  111 

The  Fourfold  Touchstone — (c)     The  Third  Test — UnselBshness 

"Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart." 

—Mark  12:30. 

"So  therefore  whosoever  he  be  of  you  that  renounceth  not  all 
that  he  hath,  he  cannot  be  my  disciple."  — Luke  14:33. 

"If  any  man  would  come  after  me,  let  him  deny  himself,  and 
take  up  his  cross  daily,  and  follow  me.  For  whosoever  would  save 
his  life  shall  lose  it;  but  whosoever  shall  lose  his  life  for  my  sake, 
the  same  shall  save  it."  — Luke  9 :  23,  24. 

"For  this  is  the  will  of  God  ....  that  ye  study  to  be  quiet, 
and  to  do  your  own  business,  and  to  work  with  your  hands  .... 
that  ye  may  walk  becomingly  toward  them  that  are  without,  and 
may  have  need  of  nothing."  — /  Thess.  4 : 3,  11,  12. 

"Let  all  bitterness,  and  wrath,  and  anger,  and  clamor,  and  rail- 
ing, be  put  away  from  you,  with  all  malice:  and  be  ye  kind  one  to 

another,  tenderhearted,  forgiving  each  other Wherefore  be  ye 

not  foolish,  but  understand  what  the  will  of  the  Lord  is." 

—E'ph.  4:31,  32;  5:17. 

"Set  your  minds  on  the  things   that   are   above Put   on 

therefore  ....  a  heart  of  compassion,  kindness,  lowliness,  meek- 
ness, .longsuffering ;  forbearing  one  another,  and  forgiving  each 
other,  if  any  man  have  a  complaint  against  any." 

—Col.  3:2,  12,  IS. 

"But  the  wisdom  that  is  from  above  is  ...  .  peaceable,  gentle, 
easy  to  be  entreated,  full  of  mercy."  — James  3: 17. 

Is  THE  STEP  WHICH  I  HAD  PLANNED  TO  TAKE  THE  MOST  UN"- 
8ELFI8H   ONE?       If   IT  IS   NOT  IT  CANNOT  BE    God's   WILL   FOR   MY   LIFE. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Bushnell.    The  New  Life.    No.  XXI.— "The  Efficiency  of  the  Pas- 
sive Virtues." 

Drummond.     The  Greatest  Thing  in  the  World. 

The  difference  hetween  Unselfishness  and  Love. 

I.  Jesus'  teaching  makes  a  clear  distinction  between 
unselfishness  and  love. 

Unselfishness  is  passive  (Luke  14  ^^,  9  -^'  ^*) — self- 
mastery,  self-renunciation,  the  effacement  of  self  when  self  is 
tempted  to  express  itself  in  what  we  may  call  the  sins  of  the 
heart  (as  distinct  from  those  of  the  body  and  mind),  i.e.  in 
Anger,  Pride,  Suspicion,  Envy,  etc.  Bushnell  has  well  charac- 
terized this  as  "Patience." 

Love,  on  the  other  hand,  is  always  active.  It  is  the  ex- 
pression, the  pouring  forth  of  the  mastered,  controlled,  re- 
nounced, effaced  self  in  God-inspired  and  God-directed  deeds 
of  love.  Self  has  been  got  out  of  the  way  and  God  works 
through  the  unchoked  channel.  Jesus  always  used  love  in 
this  sense  as  implying  action,  not  a  mere  emotion  (Luke  10 
25-37;  John  21  ^^-^^  Matt.  25  =^^-*<').  Only  in  such  a  sense  can 
a  man  love  God  with  body,  mind,  heart  and  soul  (Mark  12  ^'^). 
Speer  has  well  characterized  this  as  "Service." 

II.  Paul's  analysis  of  love  in  I  Cor.  13,  on  the  contrary, 
embraces  both  of  Jesus'  conceptions  of  unselfishness  and  of 
love  (of  patience  and  of  service,  of  self-eff'acement  and  of 
self-expression)  under  a  more  general  term  "Love."  In  the 
analysis  there  are  seven  self-eff'acing  virtues  (i.e.  the  traits 
of  Jesus'  "unselfishness") — Patience,  Freedom  from  Envy, 
Humility,  Courtesy,  Waiving  of  One's  Rights,  Good  Temper, 
Guilelessness ;  and  two  self-expressing  virtues  (i.e.  the  traits 
of  Jesus'  "love") — Kindness,  Championing  of  Righteous- 
ness and  Truth. 

In  our  present  study,  "Unselfishness,"  we  concern  our- 
selves with  the  first  seven;  in  the  next  study,  "Love,"  with  the 
last  two. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  199 

Study  XVIII.     The  Fourfold  Touchstone,     (c)  The  Third  Test- 
Unselfishness 

FIRST  DAY 

What  Do  We  Mean  by  Unselfishness  ? 

I  Cor.  8  ^  Rom.  1  i  '^''^ ;  Matt.  5  ^^-*-',  John  3  "•  ^^  17  ''. 

"I  only  design  to  exhibit  what  many  are  so  apt  to  overlook 
or  forget,  the  sublime  efficacy  of  those  virtues  which  belong 
to  the  receiving,  suffering,  patient  side  of  character.  They  are 
such  as  meekness,  gentleness,  forbearance,  forgiveness,  the 
endurance  of  wrong  without  anger  and  resentment,  content- 
ment, quietness,  peace,  and  unambitious  love To  bear 

evil  and  wrong,  to  forgive,  to  sufl'er  no  resentment  under 
injury,  to  be  gentle  when  nature  burns  with  a  fierce  heat,  and 
pride  clamors  for  redress,  to  restrain  envy,  to  bear  defeat  with 
a  firm  and  peaceful  mind,  not  to  be  vexed  or  fretted  by  cares, 
losses  or  petty  injuries,  to  abide  in  contentment  and  serenity 
of  spirit,  when  trouble  and  disappointment  come — these  are 
conquests,  alas,  how  difficult  to  most  of  us !  Accordingly  it 
will  be  seen  that  a  true  Christian  man  is  distinguished  from 
other  men,  not  so  much  by  his  beneficent  works  as  by  his 
patience." 

Bushnell:  The  New  Life,  pages  J^OO,  JfOl. 

If  carried  to  its  full  meaning  absolute  unselfishness  would 
also  include  victory  over  every  sin.  Unselfishness  is  mastery 
or  efFacement  of  self,  and  all  impurity,  dishonesty  and  self- 
repression  are  selfish.  Practically  we  limit  it  to  the  traits  of 
the  heart.  Unselfishness  is  to  think  of  the  results  of  your 
action  on  tlie  other  fellow,  to  curb  yourself  in  so  far  as  it 
might  injure  others.  Wherever  self  asserts  itself  to  the  injury 
of  others  in  impatience,  envy,  pride,  discourtesy,  greed,  tem- 
per or  suspicion,  there  is  selfishness. 

An  absolutely  unselfish  man  according  to  Jesus'  standpoint: 

Can  be  righteously  impatient  (Luke  19  *°'**'). 

Can  be  righteously  jealous  (Luke  9  ^^'^^^. 


300  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

Can  be  righteously  proud   (Luke   10  ^''■^'^). 

Can  disregard  polite  formalities  (Luke  13  ^^;  7  **-*'^). 

Can  be  righteously  self-assertive    (John    8  ^-). 

Can  be  righteously  angry  (Matt.  23  i3-36^_ 

Can  be  righteously  suspicious  (John  2  ^*'  ^^). 

But  only  when  he  has  so  completely  surrendered  his  own  will 
to  God  and  so  effaced  self  that  he  is  absolutely  sure  that  there 
is  no  selfish  motive  in  his  action  and  that  God  is  working 
through  him  for  the  good  of  other  men. 

For  example:  if  I  personally  am  insulted  I  have  no  right 
to  be  angry,  I  must  bear  the  insult  in  patience;  but  if  a  poor 
defenceless  woman  is  insulted  I  have  a  right  to  assert  my 
righteous  wrath  to  protect  her. 

I  have  no  right  to  be  proud  of  my  achievement  but  I 
have  a  right  to  be  proud  of  what  my  friends  do.  If  my  work 
is  delayed  by  others  I  have  no  right  to  be  impatient,  but  if 
my  friend's  is  delayed  I  have  a  right  to  be  impatient. 

Unselfishness  does  not  mean  that  a  man  becomes  a 
nonentity.  It  means  merely  that  for  the  future  the  goal  or 
object  of  all  his  exertions  is  changed  from  self  to  others. 

An  unselfish  man  lives  up  to  Gen.  Horace  Porter's  maxim: 
"Never  imderrate  yourself  in  action,  and  never  overrate  your- 
self in  your  official  report." 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  201 

Study  XVIII.     The  Fourfold  Touchstone,     (c)  The  Third  Test— 
Unselnshness 

SECOND  DAY 

Subtle  Forms  of  Selfishness 

Rom.  12  ^-21;  Matt.  23  ^'^^  (cf.  also  ^^■^^),  6  ^^ 

How  many  of  us  live  up  daily  to  the  following  definitions 
of  unselfishness.?"  In  what  respects  did  Jesus  fail  to  live  up 
to  them .'' 

"It  is  almost  a  definition  of  a  gentleman  to  say  that  he  is 
one  who  never  inflicts  pain.  He  is  mainly  occupied  in  merely 
removing  the  obstacles  which  hinder  the  free  and  unembar- 
rassed action  of  those  about  him,  and  he  concurs  with  their 
movements  rather  than  takes  the  initiative  himself.  He  carefully 
avoids  whatever  may  cause  a  jar  or  a  jolt  in  the  minds  of  those 
with  whom  he  is  cast — all  clashing  of  opinion  or  collision  of 
feeling,  all  restraint  or  suspicion,  or  gloom,  or  resentment; 
his  great  concern  being  to  make  every  one  at  his  ease  and 
at  home.  He  has  his  eyes  on  all  the  company;  he  is  tender 
towards  the  bashful,  gentle  towards  the  distant  and  merciful 
towards  the  absurd.  He  guards  against  unseasonable  allu- 
sions, or  topics  which  may  irritate.  He  has  no  ear  for  slander 
or  gossip,  is  scrupulous  in  imputing  motives  to  those  who  in- 
terfere with  him  and  interprets  everything  for  the  best." 

Newman. 

"The  forbearing  use  of  power  does  not  only  form  a 
touchstone,  but  the  manner  in  which  an  individual  enjoys 
certain  advantages  over  others  is  the  test  of  a  true  gentle- 
man. The  power  which  the  strong  have  over  the  weak,  the 
magistrate  over  the  citizen,  the  employer  over  the  employed, 
the  educated  over  the  unlettered,  the  experienced  over  the 
confiding,  even  the  clever  over  the  silly,  the  forbearing  or  in- 
offensive use  of  all  this  power  or  authority,  or  a  total  absence 
of  it  when  the  case  admits  it  will  show  the  gentleman  in  a  plain 
light.  The  gentleman  does  not  needlessly  or  unnecessarily  re- 
mind an  offender  of  a  wrong  he  may  have  committed  against 


202  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

him.  He  can  not  only  forgive;  he  can  forget;  and  he  strives 
for  that  nobleness  of  soul  and  mildness  of  character  which  im- 
parts sufficient  strength  to  let  the  past  be  the  past.  A  true 
gentleman  of  honor  feels  humbled  himself  when  he  cannot  help 
humbling  others." 

Robert  E.  Lee,  Outlook,  22  December,  1906,  page  968. 

Subtle  forms  of  selfishness. 

Personal  uncleanliness  and  slovenliness. 
Impatience — with  physical  pain  or  delay. 
Disappointment  and  sorrow  brooded  over. 
Envy. 
Pride. 

Unwillingness  to  let  others  do  for  you. 
Greed. 
Ambition. 

Discourtesy,  especially  to  inferiors,  e.g.  servants. 
Conceit. 

Anger — bitterness — temper. 
Suspicion. 
Prejudice. 
Insincerity. 

Cruelty — abuse  of  children — catting  jests  and  nicknames. 
Unwillingness  to  forgive  (Matt.  18  ^^f). 
Boisterousness  and  roughness. 
Stubbornness. 
Gloominess — "grouch." 
Anxiety  and  nervousness. 

Unwillingness  to  share  another  person's  grief. 
Overeating  and  overdrinking. 

Overindulgence  in  pleasure  (theatre,  sport,  etc.). 
Show  and  display. 

Lawlessness — not  observing  regulations  (I  Peter  2  ^^-ib^^ 
Smoking  in  the  presence  of  strangers,  e.g.  trolley  car, 
grand  stand,  etc. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  SOS 


Study  XVIII.     The  Fourfold  Touchstone,     (c)  The  Third  Test — 
Unselfishness 

THIRD  DAY 

The  Physical,  Intellectual,  Social  and  Spiritual  Results  of  Selfishness 

Luke  9  "•  '*. 

Physical.  A  man  can  make  himself  sick  and  become  a 
physical  wreck  by  thinking  of  himself  all  the  time.  The 
best  means  of  keeping  well  is  to  get  the  mind  off  of  self. 

Intellectual      (Matt.   13  "^  25  "-2'')=unproductivity. 

Social  (Matt.  23^^;  Luke  15=8;  John  13  3°)=loneli- 
ness. 

Spiritual  (Matt.  18  5;  Luke  9^*;  John  12  2»)=loss  of 
the  life  of  God  in  the  soul  of  man. 


204  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

Study  XVm.     The  Fourfold  Touchstone,    (c)  The  Third  Test- 
Unselfishness 

FOURTH  DAY 

The  Unselfishness  of  Jesus 

Phil.  2^^;   Rev.  l'. 

See  Henry   Drummond's    "The   Greatest   Thing   in  the 
World  "  for  a  suggestive  analysis  of  the  unselfishness  of  Jesus. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  205 


Study  XVIII.     The  Fourfold  Touchstone,     (c)  The  Third  Test- 
Unselfishness 

FIFTH  DAY 

Is  a  Conflict  Possible  Between  the  Demands  of  Unselfishness  and  Those 
of  Purity,  Honesty  or  Love  (Self-expression)? 

1.  True  unselfishness  presupposes  purity.  Impurity  is 
always  gratification  of  self.  Paul  gives  the  selfish  results  of 
impurity  in  Rom.  1  "-32  (esp.  ^9.  3o  f). 

2.  True  unselfishness  presupposes  honesty.  Dishon- 
esty is  always  selfish — on  the  very  face  of  it  when  a  man 
is  dishonest  to  save  himself  or  to  procure  gain  for  himself. 
When  a  man  lies  or  steals  for  another  this  is  either  because 
he  is  afraid  of  the  other  man  and  does  not  dare  to  face  his 
anger  by  refusal  to  be  dishonest;  or  because  he  is  not  willing 
to  suffer  in  the  other  man's  place,  by  taking  the  other  man's 
sins  on  himself  in  his  position  of  mediator.  In  either  case  it 
is  a  very  obvious  form  of  selfishness. 

3.  True  unselfishness  presupposes  love  or  self-expression. 
"By  a  little  different  process  the  Christian  monks  were  turned 
to  fiends  of  blood  without  being  savages.  Exercised  day 
and  night  in  a  devotion  that  was  aired  by  no  outward 
social  duties,  waiting  only  on  the  dreams  and  visions  of 
a  cloistered  religion,  all  the  gentle  humanities  and  social 
charities  were  absorbed  or  taken  away.  And  then  their  very 
prayers  would  draw  blood,  and  they  would  go  out  from  the 
real  presence  itself  to  bless  the  knife  or  kindle  the  fire." 

Bushnell:  The  New  Life,  pages  176,  177. 


206  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

Study  XVni.     The  Fourfold  Touchstone,     (c)  The  Third  Test — 
Unselfishness 

SIXTH  DAY 

How  to  Grow  in  Unselfishness 

II  Cor.  5  ";  Phil.  2  ^'^  4  s-  »;  James  1  *;  John  8  ^\ 

Study  in  Jesus'  life  and  teaching  that  particular  trait 
in  which  you  are  weak  (Heb.  4-  ^^).  Collect  all  the  Scripture 
references  and  arrange  them  under  heads,  i.e.  forms  in  which 
it  manifests  itself;  what  did  Jesus  teach  about  it?  etc.  Culti- 
vate the  habit  when  the  selfish  impulse  comes,  of  stopping 
short  before  acting  and  picturing  Jesus  in  the  same  situation 
(Matt.  28  2<>;  John  14  ^3),  Then  act  the  way  the  picture  tells 
you,  praying  for  his  help. 

There  is  no  sin,  no  matter  how  great  or  of  how  long 
standing  it  may  be,  which  cannot  be  conquered  by  Jesus' 
help  in  this  way,  if  one  means  business. 


SEVENTH  DAY— REVIEW 

1.  To  what  extent  is  the  doctrine  of  non-resistance  to  be 
carried?     Is  Tolstoi's  theory  right? 

2.  Is  war  ever  justifiable?  the  use  of  force  in  discipline? 

3.  Has  a  man  a  right  to  defend  himself  when  attacked 
by  a  robber?  Is  he  fighting  for  himself  alone  or  for  the 
community  ? 


STUDY    XIX 

The  Fourfold  Touchstone — (d)     The  Fourth  Test — Love 

"Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  ....  with  all  thy  soul.  Thou 
Shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  —Mark  12:30,31. 

"This  is  my  commandment,  that  ye  love  one  another,  even  as 
I  have  loved  you."  — John  15:12. 

"Depart  from  me,  ye  cursed,  into  the  eternal  fire  which  is  pre- 
pared for  the  devil  and  his  angels:  for  I  was  hungry  and  ye  did 
not  give  me  to  eat:  I  was  thirsty,  and  ye  gave  me  no  drink.  I  was  a 
stranger,  and  ye  took  me  not  in;  naked,  and  ye  clothed  me  not;  sick 

and  in  prison  and  ye  visited  me  not Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  not 

unto  one  of  these  least,  ye  did  it  not  unto  me."    — Matt.  25:41-43,  45. 

"For  this  is  the  will  of  God  ....  concerning  love  of  the  breth- 
ren ye  have  no  need  that  one  write  unto  you."  — /  Thess.  4 :  3,  9. 

"And  walk   in  love,  even  as  Christ  also   loved  you,   and   gave 

himself Wherefore   be   ye   not    foolish,   but   understand   what 

the  will  of  the  Lord  is."  —Eph.  5:2,17. 

"Set  your  mind  on  the  things  that  are  above  ....  and  above 
all  these  things  put  on  love."  — Col.  3:2,14. 

"But  the  wisdom  that  is  from  above  is  ...  .  full  of  ...  .  good 
fruits."  — James  3:17. 

Is  THE  STEP  WHICH  I  HAD  PLAXNED  TO  TAKE  THE  FULLEST  POS- 
SIBLE EXPRESSION  OF  MY  LOVE,  i.e.  OF  MY  SELF  IN  SERVICE  OF  OTHERS? 
If    IT   IS   NOT   IT    CANNOT   BE    God's    WILL    FOR    MY    LIFE. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Bushnell.     The  New  Life.     IX. — "Capacity  of  Religion   Extir- 
pated by  Disuse." 

Drummond.     The  Greatest  Thing  in  the  World. 
Jordan.     The  Call  of  the  Twentieth  Century. 
Speer.    The  Marks  of  a  Man.    "Service." 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  209 

Study  XIX.    The  Fourfold  Touchstone,     (d)  The  Fourth  Test— Love 

FIRST  DAY 

What  Do  We  Mean  by  Love  or  Self-expression  ? 

Matt.  25  3^-";  Luke  10  ^s".  jjeb.  13  i«;  I  Peter  4  «-i°. 
John  13  3^  21  ^^■^';  I  John  3  ^«'  ^^ 

"In  the  Book  of  Matthew,  where  the  Judgment  Day  is 
depicted  for  us  in  the  imagery  of  one  seated  upon  a  throne 
and  dividing  the  sheep  from  the  goats,  the  test  of  a  man  then 
is  not,  'How  have  I  believed.'''  but  'How  have  I  loved?' 
The  test  of  religion,  the  final  test  of  religion,  is  not  religious- 
ness but  love.  I  say  the  final  test  of  religion  at  that  great 
day  is  not  religiousness  but  love;  not  what  I  have  done,  not 
what  I  have  believed,  not  what  I  have  achieved,  but  how  I 
have  discharged  the  common  charities  of  life.  Sins  of  com- 
mission in  that  awful  indictment  are  not  even  referred  to.  By 
what  we  have  not  done,  by  sins  of  omission,  we  are  judged. 
It  could  not  be  otherwise.  For  the  withholding  of  love  is  the 
negation  of  the  spirit  of  Christ,  the  proof  that  we  never 
knew  him,  that  for  us  he  lived  in  vain.  It  means  that  he 
suggested  nothing  in  all  our  thoughts,  that  he  inspired  noth- 
ing in  all  our  lives,  that  we  were  not  once  near  enough  to 
him  to  be  seized  with  the  spell  of  his  compassion  for  the  world. 
It  means  that 


(( ( 


I  lived  for  myself,  I  thought  for  myself. 
For  myself  and  none  beside — 
Just  as  if  Jesus  had  never  lived. 
As  if  he  had  never  died.' 

"It  is  the  Son  of  man  before  whom  the  nations  of  the 
world  shall  be  gathered.  It  is  in  the  presence  of  humanity 
that  we  shall  be  charged.  And  the  spectacle  itself,  the  mere 
sight  of  it  will  silently  judge  each  one.  Those  will  be  there 
whom  we  have  met  and  helped;  or  there  the  unpitied  multi- 
tude whom  we  neglected  or  despised.  No  other  .witness  need 
be  summoned.    No  other  charge  than  lovelessness  shall  be  pre- 


210  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

ferred.  Be  not  deceived.  The  words  which  all  of  us  shall  one 
day  hear  sound  not  of  theology  but  of  life,  not  of  churches  and 
saints,  but  of  the  hungry  and  the  poor,  not  of  creeds  and  doc- 
trines, but  of  shelter  and  clothing,  not  of  Bibles  and  prayer 
books,  but  of  cups  of  cold  water  in  the  name  of  Christ.  Thank 
God,  the  Christianity  of  today  is  coming  nearer  the  world's 
need.     Live  to  help  that  on." 

Drummond:    The   Greatest    Thing  in   the    World,  pages 
61-6^. 

If  carried  to  its  full  meaning  absolute  love  or  self-expres- 
sion would  also  include  victory  over  every  sin  (Rom.  13  *'^''). 
Love  is  full  self-expression  and  an  impure,  dishonest  or  sel- 
fish man  never  expresses  himself  fully.  Practically  we  limit 
love  to  the  service  of  mankind.  It  is  the  active  pouring  out 
of  self  in  contrast  to  unselfishness  which  is  the  hidden,  pas- 
sive mastery  of  self.  "Have  you  ever  noticed  how  much  of 
Jesus'  life  was  spent  in  doing  kind  things — in  merely  doing 
kind  things?" 

The  fullest  expression  of  love  according  to  Jesus'  stan- 
dard (1)  Does  not  mean  working  beyond  one's  powers  all  the 
time,  taking  up  every  task  that  comes  along  (Jesus  took  va- 
cations) ;  but  it  does  mean  doing  those  things  which  no  one  but 
you  can  do;  e.g.  if  you  receive  a  gift  you  are  the  only  one  who 
can  express  thanks  for  it.  (2)  Does  not  mean  simply  senti- 
mental, pliable  agreeableness.  True  love  often  acts  with  a 
sternness  that  hurts.  (Love  is  not  only  kind — love  rejoiceth 
not  in  unrighteousness,  but  rejoiceth  in  the  truth.) 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  911 

Study  XIX.     The  Fourfold  Touchstone,     (d)  The  Fourth  Test— Love 

SECOND  DAY 

Subtle  Forms  of  Repression  of  One's  Best  Self 

Luke  7  "■'%  17  "-'^ 

Laziness. 

Cowardice. 

Not  expressing  thanks  for  gifts  or  favors  (especially 
tuition  scholarship  in  college). 

Never  telling  your  parents  or  friends — those  in  the 
intimate  circle — how  much  you  think  of  them  (i.e.  tell  your 
mother  that  you  love  her  and  appreciate  what  she  has  de- 
prived herself  of  for  your  sake). 

Neglect  of  prayer  and  church  attendance. 

Neglect  of  duties  as  citizen — voting,  protest,  etc. 

Refusal  to  help  (not  necessarily  to  give  money  to)  beg- 
gars and  tramps  because  they  are  probably  fakes. 

"It  is  easy  to  become  suspicious  of  everything  that  calls 
itself  charity,  to  harden  the  heart  because  we  can  point  to 
endless  cases  where  we  have  been  imposed  on Benevo- 
lence may  have  often  been  abused,  but  worse  than  that  is 
callous  indifference  to  the  calls  on  benevolence.  A  man  who 
boasts  of  never  having  been  taken  in  is  advertising  his  own 
hardness  of  heart.  Charity  organization  is  dearly  bought  at 
the  expense  of  the  extinction  of  charity  itself." 

Hugh  Black:  "The  Paralysis  of  Criticism,"  Outlook,  17 
March,  1906,  page  607. 

Avoidance  of  marriage  and  children. 

Neglect  of  correspondence  with  family  or  friends. 


212  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

Study  XIX.     The  Fourfold  Touchstone,     (d)  The  Fourth  Test— Love 

THIRD  DAY 

The  Physical,  Intellectual,  Social  and  Spiritual  Results  of  Self-repression 
Matt.  25  (entire  chapter). 

Physical.  [Isaiah  40  ^^]  ;  John  4  ^i-^";  I  Peter  4  "  ("the 
strength  which  God  supplieth").  A  man  misses  the  tenfold 
strength   which  is   his   birthright. 

Intellectual.  Matt.  25  ^®'^^.  "The  same  paradox  is  ob- 
served ....  in     intellectual     achievements The     life 

that  withheld  itself  was  checked  and  dwarfed.  The  life  that 
yielded  itself  was  enriched  and  confirmed." 

Peabody:  Jesus  Christ  and  the  Christian  Character, 
page  203. 

"I  have  said  that  in  one  respect  my  mind  has  changed 

during  the  last  twenty  or  thirty  years I  have  tried 

lately  to  read  Shakespeare  and  found  it  so  intolerably  dull 
that    it    nauseated    me.      I    have    also    almost    lost    my    taste 

for  pictures  and  music My  mind  seems  to  have  become 

a  kind  of  machine  for  grinding  general  laws  out  of  a  large 
collection  of  facts^  but  why  this  should  have  caused  the 
atrophy  of  that  part  of  the  brain  alone,  on  which  the  higher 

tastes  depend,  I  cannot  conceive If  I  had  to  live  my 

life  again,  I  would  have  made  a  rule  to  read  some  poetry 
and  listen  to  some  music  at  least  once  every  week;  for  per- 
haps the  parts  of  my  brain  now  atrophied  would  thus  have 
been  kept  active  through  use.  The  loss  of  these  tastes  is  a 
loss  of  happiness,  and  may  possibly  be  injurious  to  the  intel- 
lect, and  more  probably  to  the  moral  character  by  enfeebling 
the  emotional  part  of  our  nature." 

Francis  Darwin:  Life  and  Letters  of  Charles  Darwin, 
pages  81,  82. 

(Cf.  also  James'  Psychology,  Briefer  Course,  pages 
147,  148.) 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  213 

Social.     Matt.  25  ^^'^^.     Separation  from  others. 
Spiritual.     Luke  l6  ^^-^^.     A  man  misses  the  greatest  joy 
in  the  world — the  joy  of  service.     Ill   John  4. 

"I  wonder  why  it  is  that  we  are  not  all  kinder  than  we 
are?  How  much  the  world  needs  it.  How  easily  it  is  done. 
How  instantaneously  it  acts.  How  infallibly  it  is  remembered. 
How  superabundantly  it  pays  itself  back." 

Drummond:  The  Greatest  Thing  in  the  World,  page  23. 


214  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

Study  XIX.     The  Fourfold  Touchstone,     (d)  The  Fourth  Test— Love 

FOURTH  DAY 

The  Love  or  Self-expression  of  Jesus 
John  21  ". 

Speer.     Principles  of  Jesus.     Chapters  XXXI.,  XXXII. 
— "Jesus  and  Love/'  "Jesus  and  Work." 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  216 

Study  XIX.     The  Fourfold  Touchstone,    (d)  The  Fourth  Test— Love 

FIFTH  DAY 

Is  a  Conflict  Possible  Between  the  Demands  of  Love  (i.  e.  Service  oi 
Self-expression)  and  Those  of  Purity,  Honesty  and  Unselfishness? 

1.  True  love  presupposes  purity. 

John  7  ^^ — 8  ^^  (contrast  the  attitude  of  the  pure  Jesu** 
and  the  impure  Pharisees  toward  the  woman  in  need  of  help)-. 
Matt.  7  '^  (end  of  verse),  12  ^^  I  Peter  1  ". 

It  is  not  true  that  men  living  in  sin  are  sympathetic 
toward  those  who  are  worse  off,  and  that  pure  and  honest 
people  are  cold  and  unsympathetic.  The  one  thing  that  gives 
a  man  great  love  and  desire  to  help  others  is  to  have  won  his 
own  struggle  himself.  Men  living  in  sin  are  cruel.  Many 
people  who  pretend  to  be  pure  are  cruel,  but  it  can  be  taken 
as  an  almost  invariable  rule  that  when  a  man  is  bitter  and 
uncharitable  against  those  who  have  fallen  in  sin  that  he 
is  thereby  striving  to  cover  a  sin  of  the  same  sort.  (Rom. 
2  ' ;  Matt.  7  \) 

2.  True  love  presupposes  honesty. 
Rom.  12  9;  I  John  3  '^ 

Discuss  here  the  question  of  one  man  helping  another 
to  be  dishonest  in  examination  "out  of  love." 

"Out  of  love!"  What  is  love.''  A  flabby,  pliable  agree- 
ableness  because  you  are  a  coward  and  are  afraid  that  the 
other  man  will  not  like  you  if  you  obj  ect ;  or  is  it  an  affection- 
ate concern  for  the  future  of  your  friend  so  faithful  and 
true  that  it  cuts  you  to  the  heart  to  think  of  such  a  damning 
trait  as  deception  becoming  rooted  in  him.''  Perhaps  your 
kindly,  loving  refusal  explained  fully  with  great  gentleness 
afterwards  may  be  the  turning  point  of  his  life.  (2  Tim. 
2  24-26  -^     ^^  |.jig  least  he  will  love  and  admire  you  for  it. 

If  you  help  him  on  in  his  career  of  deception  and  he 
later  becomes  a  bank  defaulter,  who  is  in  part  responsible  ? 


216  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

"By  a  change  of  divisions  in  the  summer  term,  I  came  to 
sit  next  to  Charlie  Fielding,  and  was  glad  of  the  chance  to 
become  more  intimate  with  him.  But  before  long  I  began  to 
think  my  privilege  a  doubtful  one.  For  Charlie,  although 
gifted  with  a  keen  mind  and  an  extraordinary  power  of  con- 
centration, was  loath  to  apply  them  to  preparation  for  class 
work:  instead,  he  would  be  constantly  whispering  to  me, 
"What's  this?"  or  "How  do  you  do  that?" — endeavoring  in 
this  way  to  keep  far  enough  in  advance  of  the  reciter  to  avoid 
being  flunked  when  called  upon.  To  this  practice  I  have  always 
most  strongly  objected,  not  selfishly,  but  on  grounds  of  self-re- 
spect. In  school  and  in  college  there  are  those  who  seem  to 
consider  it  an  honor  to  have  the  more  prominent  men  lean  upon 
them  in  this  way  for  support.  But  never,  never,  was  popularity 
acquired  by  such  sorry  subserviency.  Outside  of  class  the  great 
man  notices  not  his  friend  in  time  of  need,  or  if  so,  only  to 
fleer  him  for  a  'grind'  or  a  'greaser.'  Much  as  I  admired 
Charlie  Fielding  (who  was  by  this  time  grown  to  something  of 
a  figure  in  the  school  world),  I  would  not  endure  this  un- 
equal arrangement.  So  one  day  after  recitation,  I  put  the 
matter  to  him  plainly.  Perhaps  his  fault  had  been  one  more  of 
thoughtlessness  than  of  deliberate  intent;  for  he  immediately 
apologized  most  handsomely,  and  we  parted  with  mutual 
respect From  this  day  forward  our  friendship  pro- 
gressed so  rapidly,  that  shortly  before  the  close  of  the  term 
(when  his  present  room-mate  and  mine  would  both  graduate), 
we  arranged  to  room  together  for  the  next  year." 

Struly:  My  Three  Years  at  Andover,  pages  59-61. 

3.  True  love  presupposes  unselfishness.     I  Cor.  13  ^. 

"We  see  in  this  subject  how  it  is  that  many  persons  are 

so  abundantly  active  in  religion  with  so  little  eiFect 

Thus  a  man  may  be  very  active  in  warnings,  exhortations, 
public  prayers,  plans  of  beneficence,  contributions  of  time 
and  money,  and  it  may  seem,  when  you  look  upon  him,  that 
he  is  going  to  produce  immense  effects  by  his  life.  But 
suppose  him  to  be  very  much  of  a  stranger  to  the  patient 
virtues  of  Christ — railing  at  adversaries,  blowing  blasts   of 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  31T 

scorn  upon  those  whom  he  wishes  to  reform  in  their  practices, 
impetuous,  wilful,  irritable,  hot — how  much  good  is  that  man 
going  to  do  by  all  his  activity?  What  can  he  do  but  irritate 
and  vex,  and,  as  far  as  he  is  concerned,  render  the  very  name 
of  religion,  or  possibly  of  Christ  himself,  odious?" 

Bushnell:  The  New  Life. 


Study  XIX.     The  Fourfold  Touchstone,    (d)  The  Fourth  Test— Love 

SIXTH  DAY 

How  to  Attain  to  Love  or  Self-expression 

I  Peter  1  ";  John  8^\15^^;I  John  (entire  book). 

The  surest  means  is  by  the  daily  study  of  the  life  and  ex- 
ample of  Jesus.  We  are  to  be  finally  judged  not  so  much  by 
the  sins  we  have  committed  as  by  our  sins  of  omission.  Read 
each  day  in  the  Gospels  until  a  kind  act  of  Jesus  suggests  a 
similar  one  that  you  can  and  should  do.  Then  shut  the  Bible 
up  at  once  and  go  out  and  do  it,  before  you  read  further. 


818  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  XIX.     The  Fourfold  Touchstone,     (d)  The  Fourth  Test— Love 

SEVENTH  DAY— REVIEW 

1.  How  can  a  man  know  whether  or  not  he  is  doing  enough 
active  Christian  work? 

2.  Is  it  ever  right  to  work  beyond  one's  pliysical 
powers  ?  to  wreck  one's  health  deliberately  in  service  of  others  ? 
e.g.  Keith  Falconer.     Father  Damien  and  lepers. 

Yes,  if  you  are  the  only  one  who  can  do  the  work.  It  is 
just  as  right  to  sacrifice  one's  life  in  this  unpoetic  but  as 
truly  heroic  way  as  to  die  at  the  head  of  a  charge  of  troops 
to  save  the  nation. 

3.  Can  love  be  commanded.'' 

4.  Does  love  require  lovableness  in  its  object? 


D.    THE  ISSUES  OF  FACING  THE  PROBLEM 
OF  DOING  GOD'S  WILL 

study  XX.     The  Issues  of  Rejection  and  Disobedience. 

Study  XXI.     The  Issues  of  Obedience,     (a)   Knowledge. 

Study  XXII.  The  Issues  of  Obedience  (continued),  (b)  Pro- 
tection from  Harm  and  Provision  for  all  Needs. 

Study  XXIII.  The  Issues  of  Obedience  (continued),  (c)  As- 
surance as  to  Duty  and  Power  to  Achieve  Results. 

Study  XXIV.  The  Issues  of  Obedience  (continued),  (d)  Con- 
stant Companionship. 

Study  XXV.  The  Issues  of  Obedience  (concluded),  (e)  Eter- 
nal Life, 


STUDY    XX 

The  Issues  of  Rejection  and  Disobedience 

"And  that  servant,  who  knew  his  lord's  will,  and  made  not 
ready,  nor  did  according  to  his  will,  shall  be  beaten  with  many 
stripes."  —Luke  12:47. 

"But  what  think  ye?  A  man  had  two  sons;  and  he  came  to  the 
first,  and  said.  Son,  go  work  today  in  the  vineyard.  And  he 
answered  and  said,  I  will  not:  but  afterward  he  repented  himself, 
and  went.  And  he  came  to  the  second,  and  said  likewise.  And  he 
answered,  and  said,  I  go,  sir;  and  went  not.  Which  of  the  two  did 
the  will  of  his  father?  They  say.  The  first.  Jesus  saith  unto  them. 
Verily  I  say  unto  you,  that  the  publicans  and  harlots  go  into  the 
kingdom  of  God  before  you."  —Matt.  21:28-31. 

"And  Jesus  looking  upon  him  loved  him,  and   said  unto  him, 

One  thing  thou  lackest But  his  countenance  fell  at  the  saying, 

and  he  went  away  sorrowful."  — Mark  10:21,22. 

"Destruction  and  misery  are  in  their  ways;  and  the  way  of 
peace  have  they  not  known."  — Rom.  3: 16,17. 

"Every  one  that  falleth  on  that  stone  shall  be  broken  to  pieces; 
but  on  whomsoever  it  shall  fall,  it  wiU  scatter  him  as  dust." 

—Luke  20:18. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Bushnell.  The  New  Life.   I.— "Every  Man's  Life  a  Plan  of  God." 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  223 


Study  XX.     The  Issues  of  Rejection  and  Disobedience 

FIRST  DAY 

What  is  Disobedience? 

Eph.  4  "-";  Titus  3  ^;  Acts  7  ". 

Disobedience  is  a  deliberate,  voluntary  transgression  of 
purity,  honesty,  unselfishness  or  love;  the  refusal  (not  neces- 
sarily the  failure)  to  obey  one's  conviction  of  the  right. 

"Things  all  serve  their  uses  and  never  break  out  of  their 
place.  They  have  no  power  to  do  it.  Not  so  with  us.  We 
are  able  as  free  beings  to  refuse  the  place  and  duties  God 
appoints ;  which  if  we  do  we  then  sink  into  something  lower 
and  less  worthy  of  us.  That  highest  and  best  condition  for 
which  God  designed  us  is  no  more  possible.  We  are  fallen 
out  of  it,  and  it  cannot  be  wholly  recovered." 

Bushnell:  The  New  Life,  page  H. 

"In  the  eternal  counsels  of  his  will  when  he  arranged  the 
destiny  of  every  star  ....  the   Creator  had  a  thought  for 

you  and  me But  we  all  had  the  terrible  power  to 

evade  this  thought,  and  shape  our  lives  from  another  thought, 
from  another  will  if  we  chose.  The  bud  could  only  become 
a  flower,  and  the  star  revolve  in  the  orbit  God  had  fixed. 
But  it  was  man's  prerogative  to  choose  his  path,  his  duty 
to  choose  it  in  God.  But  the  divine  right  to  choose  at  all  has 
always  seemed  more  to  him  than  his  duty  to  choose  in  God, 
so  for  the  most  part  he  has  taken  his  life  from  God  and  cut 
out  his  career  from  himself." 

Drummond:  The  Ideal  Life,  page  305. 


THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  XX.     The  Issues  of  Rejection  and  Disobedience 

SECOND  DAY 

Honest  Ignorance,  Honest  Openmindedness,  Defiant  Refusal  to  Obey, 
Indecision  and  Wilful  Ignorance 

Honest  ignorance  is  not  disobedience — Jesus  freely  for- 
gives those  who  sin  through  ignorance  (Luke  23  ^*).  Cf.  the 
case  of  Paul  (Acts  26  ''•  ^^). 

Honest  openmindedness  and  refusal  to  act  until  convinced 
is  not  disobedience.  Jesus  never  forces  a  man  against  his 
frank^  although  perhaps  mistaken,  convictions;  he  invites 
honest,    searching   investigation    of    his    claims.       (John    1  ^®, 

20  ^-i-^s.) 

Defiant  refusal  to  obey  is  disobedience  but  it  is  the  most 
hopeful  form  (Matt.  21  28-29-^  ^  defiant  rebel  against  God 
often  makes  the  most  devoted  subject  if  he  can  be  brought  to 
see  his  error. 

Indecision,  apathy,  or  disobedience-become-a-habit,  is  the 
subtlest    and    most    dangerous    form    of   disobedience    (Matt. 

21  ^^'  ^^).  While  good  and  often  necessary  in  intellectual 
matters  it  is  never  right  in  a  question  of  conscience.  It  is 
a  form  of  disobedience  which  blinds  and  deafens   (John  8  ^^, 

22  36-43-j_  Jesus'  energies  were  often  directed  against  this 
most  alarming  form  of  sleeping  sickness  of  the  soul. 

Wilful  ignorance  (2  Peter  3  ^'  '*'),  the  refusal  to  learn, 
is  the  atrophy  of  the  soul. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  235 

Study  XX.     The  Issues  of  Rejection  and  Disobedience 

THIRD  DAY 

The  Testimony  of  Psychology  to  the  Results  of  Disobedience,  Especially 
in  the  Form  of  Indecision 

James  2  '">'  -°. 

"No  matter  how  full  a  reservoir  of  maxims  one  may 
possess,  and  no  matter  how  good  one's  sentiments  may  be,  if 
one  have  not  taken  advantage  of  every  concrete  opportunity 
to  act,  one's  character  may  remain  entirely  unaffected  for  the 
better.  With  mere  good  intentions  hell  is  proverbially  paved. 
And  this  is  an  obvious  consequence  of  the  principles  we  have 
laid  down.  A  'character,'  as  J.  S.  Mill  says,  'is  a  completely 
fashioned  will';  and  a  will,  in  the  sense  in  which  he  means  it, 
is  an  aggregate  of  tendencies  to  act  in  a  firm  and  prompt  and 
definite  way  upon  all  the  principal  emergencies  of  life.  A 
tendency  to  act  only  becomes  effectively  ingrained  in  us  in 
proportion  to  the  uninterrupted  frequency  with  which  the 
actions  actually  occur  and  the  brain  'grows'  to  their  use. 
When  a  resolve  or  a  fine  glow  of  feeling  is  allowed  to  evapor- 
ate without  bearing  practical  fruit  it  is  worse  than  a  chance 
lost;  it  works  so  as  positively  to  hinder  future  resolutions  and 
emotions  from  taking  the  normal  path  of  discharge.  There  is 
no  more  contemptible  type  of  character  than  that  of  the  nerve- 
less sentimentalist  and  dreamer  who  spends  his  life  in  a 
weltering  sea  of  sensibility  and  emotion  but  who  never  does 
a  manly,  concrete  deed.  Rousseau,  inflaming  all  the  mothers 
of  France  by  his  eloquence  to  follow  nature  and  nurse  their 
babies  themselves,  while  he  sends  his  own  children  to  the 
foundling  hospital,  is  the  classical  example  of  what  I  mean. 
But  every  one  of  us  in  his  measure,  whenever,  after  glowing 
for  an  abstractly  formulated  good,  he  practically  ignores 
some  actual  case  among  the  squalid  'other  particulars'  of 
which  that  same  good  lurks  disguised,  treads  straight  on 
Rousseau's  path.  All  goods  are  disguised  by  the  vulgarity  of 
their  concomitants  in  this  work-a-day  world,  but  tvoe  to  him 


226  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

rvho  can  only  recognise  them  in  their  pure  and  abstract  form. 
The  habit  of  excessive  novel-reading  and  theatre-going  will 
produce  true  monsters  in  this  line.  The  weeping  of  the 
Russian  lady  over  the  fictitious  personages  in  the  play  while 
her  coachman  is  freezing  to  death  on  his  seat  outside  is  the 
sort  of  thing  that  everywhere  happens  on  a  less  glowing  scale. 
Even  the  habit  of  excessive  indulgence  in  music  for  those 
who  are  neither  performers  themselves  nor  musically  gifted 
enough  to  take  it  in  a  purely  intellectual  way  has  probably  a 
relaxing  effect  upon  the  character.  One  becomes  filled  with 
emotions  which  habitually  pass  without  prompting  to  any 
deed  and  so  the  inertly  sentimental  condition  is  kept  up.  The 
remedy  would  be  never  to  suffer  one's  self  to  have  an  emotion 
at  a  concert,  without  expressing  it  afterward  in  some  active 
way.  Let  the  expression  be  the  least  thing  in  the  world — 
speaking  genially  to  one's  grandmother,  or  giving  up  one's 
seat  in  a  horse-car  if  nothing  more  heroic  offers — but  let  it 
not  fail  to  take  place." 

James:   Psychology,  Briefer  Course,  pages  H.7,1^8. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  227 

Study  XX.     The  Issues  of  Rejection  and  Disobedience 

FOURTH  DAY 

The  Certainty  of  Failure  of  a  Disobedient  Lite 

Rom.  3  ^';  Col.  3  ^  Mark  10  ",  12  ^"^  14  ^i;  Matt.  6 'S 
18  %  19",  23  "'^^  Luke  3%  6*%  12  20. 21. 4T^4^^  192T. 
Acts  13";  Heb.  2". 

"Seek  the  kingdom  of  God  first.  I  promise  you  but  a 
miserable  existence  if  you  seek  it  second." 

Drummond. 

"Do  I  hear  thy  soul  confessing,  with  a  suppressed  sob 
within  thee,  that,  up  to  this  time,  thou  hast  never  sought  God's 
chosen  plan  at  all.''  Hast  thou,  even  to  this  hour  and  during 
so  many  years,  been  following  a  way  and  a  plan  of  thine  own, 
regardless  hitherto  of  all  God's  purposes  in  thee?  Well,  if 
it  be  so  what  hast  thou  gotten?  How  does  thy  plan  work? 
Does  it  bring  thee  peace,  content,  dignity  of  aim  and  feeling, 
purity,  rest;  or  does  it  plunge  thee  into  mires  of  disturb- 
ance, scorch  thee  in  flames  of  passion,  worry  thee  with 
cares,  burden  thee  with  bitter  reflections,  cross  thee,  disap- 
point, sadden,  sour  thee  ?  And  what  are  thy  prospects  ?  What 
is  the  issue  to  come?  After  thou  hast  worked  out  this  hard 
plan  of  thine  own,  will  it  come  to  a  good  end?  Hast  thou 
courage  now  to  go  on  and  work  it  through?" 

Bushnell:  The  New  Life,  page  2Jf.. 

"Whole  years,  possibly  many  years  of  that  great  and 
blessed  biography  which  God  designed  for  you,  occupied  by 
a  frivolous  and  foolish  invention  of  your  own,  substituted  for 
the  good  counsel  of  God's  infinite  wisdom  and  love." 

Bushnell:  Ibid.,  page  25. 

"Life  stripped  to  its  essentials  off'ers  but  two  alternatives 
to  the  man  of  action.  He  may  work  for  himself  alone,  build- 
ing his  little  selfish  walls  across  the  advancing  path  of 
civilization  and  making  them  stumbling  blocks  in  the  way  of 


228  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

progress.  Then  however  successful  he  may  be,  ultimately 
the  stern  mills  of  the  gods  will  grind  him  and  his  structures 
to  dust  and  he  and  his  work  wiU  vanish  from  the  earth.  Or 
having  the  eyes  that  see,  he  may  place  his  effort  parallel  with 
those  eternal  lines  of  force  that  mark  the  purposes  of  God 
and  then  what  he  builds  will  endure." 

H.  K.  Smith. 

"All  men  living  without  God  are  adventurers  out  upon 
God's  world,  in  neglect  of  him,  to  choose  their  own  course. 
Hence  the  sorrowful  sad-looking  host  they  make.  Oh,  that  I 
could  show  them  whence  their  bitterness,  their  dryness,  their 
unutterable  sorrows  come.  Oh,  that  I  could  silence,  for  one 
hour,  the  noisy  tumult  of  their  works,  and  get  them  to  look  in 
upon  that  better,  higher  life  of  fruitfulness  and  blessing  to 
which  their  God  has  appointed  them." 

Bushnell:  Ibid.,  page  26. 

"All  these  centuries  the  human  animal  has  fought  with 
the  human  soul.  And  step  by  step  the  soul  has  registered 
her  victories.  She  has  won  them  only  by  feeling  for  the 
law  and  finding  it — uncovering,  bringing  into  light,  the  firm 
rocks  beneath  her  feet.  And  on  these  rocks  she  rears  her 
landmarks — marriage,  the  family,  the  State,  the  Church. 
Neglect  them,  and  you  sink  into  the  quagmire  from  which 
the  soul  of  the  race  has  been  for  generations  struggling  to 
save  you.  Dispute  them !  overthrow  them, — yes,  if  you  can ! 
You  have  about  as  much  chance  with  them  as  you  have  with 
the  other  facts  and  laws  amid  which  you  live — physical, 
or  chemical,  or  biological." 

Ancrum  to  David  Grieve.  (Quoted  Powell:  Christian 
Science,  page  129.) 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  229 


Study  XX.     The  Issues  of  Rejection  and  Disobedience 

FIFTH  DAY 

No  Disobedience  so  Great  that  it  Cannot  be  Rectified  before  God  by 
a  Single  Act  of  the  Human  Will 

Luke  23  3^-*^ ;  John  6  ",  7  "•  "—8  ". 

The  "unpardonable  sin"  can  be  committed  only  by  the 
man  who  won't  be  saved.  It  is  unpardonable,  not  because 
God  is  not  ready  to  pardon  but  simply  and  solely  because 
the  man  won't  let  himself  be  pardoned.  There  are  two  parts 
to  salvation,  God's  part  and  man's  part.  God  is  always  ready, 
but  he  cannot  act  without  man's  permission,  man's  free  will. 

"For  the  Spirit  of  God  lies  all  about  the  spirit  of  man 
like  a  mighty  sea,  ready  to  rush  in  at  the  smallest  chink  in  the 
walls  that  shut  him  out  from  his  own." 

Macdonald:  Robert  Falconer,  page  209. 


«30  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

Study  XX.     The  Issues  of  Rejection  and  Disobedience 

SIXTH  DAY 

Why  not,  then,  Sow  One's  Wild  Oats?  Although  Completely  Recti- 
fied Spiritually,  all  Disobedience  must  be  Atoned  for  Physically, 
Mentally  and  Socially,  and  When  Man  has  once  Disobeyed,  only 
"the  Next  Best  Plan"  is  Thereafter  Possible.  He  can  never  be 
what  he  Might  Have  Been,  Had  he  not  Disobeyed,  yet  God 
has  an  Honorable  Part  though  not  so  Great  a  One  for  him  in 
His  Plan  Still 

Gal.  6^'«';  Rom.  6  "-2%  11  ". 

God  forgives  and  rectifies  the  spiritual  results  of  sin  in 
the  individual  if  he  repents,  and  that  is  the  main  thing;  but 
physically,  intellectually  and  socially  a  man  must  reap  what 
he  has  sown.  In  these  three  realms  a  man  can  never  be  again 
what  he  might  have  been ;  for  even  if  he  restores  his  body,  for 
example,  to  its  state  at  the  time  he  fell,  we  must  remember  that 
this  same  body  might  have  developed  a  tenfold  greater  strength 
in  the  interval  had  the  means  necessary  for  its  restoration  been 
devoted  to  its  further  development  from  the  first  with  no 
lapse. 

"And  yet,  as  that  was  the  best  thing  possible  for  us  in 
the  reach  of  God's  original  counsel,  so  there  is  a  place  de- 
signed for  us  now  which  is  the  next  best  possible.  God  calls 
us  now  to  the  best  thing  left,  and  wiU  do  so  until  all  good 
possibility  is  narrowed  down  and  spent." 

BusHNELL :  The  New  Life,  pages  H,  15. 

"And  what  shall  I  say  to  the  older  man,  who  is  further  on 
in  his  course  and  is  still  without  God  in  the  world.''  The 
beginning  of  wisdom,  my  friend,  you  have  still  to  learn.  You 
have  really  done  nothing  as  yet  that  you  were  sent  into 
the  world  to  do.  All  your  best  opportunities,  too,  are  gone 
or  going  by.  The  best  end,  the  next  best,  and  the  next  are 
gone  and  nothing  but  the  dregs  of  opportunity  are  left.     And 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  231 

still  Christ  calls  even  you.  There  is  a  place  still  left  for 
you;  not  the  best  and  brightest  but  an  humble  and  good  one. 
To  this  you  are  called.  For  this  you  are  apprehended  of 
Christ  Jesus  still." 

Bushnell:  Ibid.,  pages  25,  20. 


232  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  XX.     The  Issues  of  Rejection  and  Disobedience 

SEVENTH  DAY— REVIEW 

1.  In  how  far  are  Jesus'  figures  of  punishment  for 
disobedience  to  be  taken  literally?  e.g.  "Beaten  with  many 
stripes."     "Cast  forth  into  outer  darkness." 

2.  In  most  of  the  parables  is  the  penalty  of  exclusion  in 
outer  darkness  pronounced  upon  those  guilty  of  sins  of  omis- 
sion or  of  commission.^ 


STUDY    XXI 

The  Issues  of  Obedience — A.     Knowledge 

"Jesus  therefore  answered  them,  and  said.  My  teaching  is  not 
mine,  but  his  that  sent  me.  If  any  man  willeth  to  do  his  will,  he 
shall  know  of  the  teaching,  whether  it  is  of  God,  or  whether  I 
speak  from  myself."  — John  7:16,  17. 

"I  can  of  myself  do  nothing:  as  I  hear,  I  judge:  and  my  judg- 
ment is  righteous;  because  I  seek  not  mine  own  will,  but  the  will  of 
him  that  sent  me."  — John  5:30. 

"And  when  they  bring  you  before  the  synagogues,  and  the 
rulers,  and  the  authorities,  be  not  anxious  how  or  what  ye  shall 
answer,  or  what  ye  shall  say:  for  the  Holy  Spirit  shall  teach  you  in 
that  very  hour  what  ye  ought  to  say."  — Luke  12:11,12. 

"But  the  Comforter,  even  the  Holy  Spirit,  whom  the  Father  will 
send  in  my  name,  he  shall  teach  you  all  things,  and  bring  to  your 
remembrance  all  that  I  said  unto  you."  — John  14:26. 

"For  I  will  give  you  a  mouth  and  wisdom,  which  all  your  ad- 
versaries shall  not  be  able  to  withstand  or  to  gainsay." — Luke  21 :  15, 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Robertson.  Sermons,  Second  Series.  No.  VII. — ^"Obedience  the 
Organ  of  Spiritual  Knowledge." 

Bushnell.  The  New  Life.  IX. — ^"Capacity  of  Religion  Extirpated 
by  Disuse." 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  235 


Study  XXI.     The  Issues  of  Obedience,     (a)  Knowledge 

FIRST  DAY 

The  Mental  Power  and  Insight  of  Jesus 

Col.    2^'^    Matt.    728.29^    22*«;    Luke    2*^;    John   2" 


7 


14,  16 


See  Peahody,  Jesus  Christ  and  the  Christian  Character, 
Chapter  II.,  pages  56-6'\i. 

What  weapons  of  the  scholar  did  Jesus  use? 

Cite  instances  of  his  deep  insight  and  ability  to  get  at 
the  essential  point  on  which  the  issue  was  to  be  determined. 

Was  Jesus  a  critic?     Was  his  mind  scientific? 

Contrast  the  mind  of  Jesus  with  that  of  Paul. 

On  what  occasions  did  Jesus  make  use  of  playfulness  as 
a  weapon  of  reasoning? 

"Here  is  intellectual  insight  matching  spiritual  authority. 
This  is  no  recluse  or  peasant  or  passive  saint,  but  an  intel- 
lectual as  well  as  moral  leader,  who  may  be  rejected  indeed, 
but  who  cannot  be  despised." 

Peabody:  Ibid.,  pages  63,  64- 

"One  of  the  strongest  pieces  of  objective  evidence  in  fa- 
vor of  Christianity  is  not  sufficiently  enforced  by  apologists. 
Indeed,  I  am  not  aware  that  I  have  ever  seen  it  mentioned. 
It  is  the  absence  from  the  biography  of  Christ  of  any  doc- 
trines which  the  subsequent  growth  of  human  knowledge — 
whether  in  natural  science,  ethics,  political  economy,  or  else- 
where— has  had  to  discount." 

Romanes:  Thoughts  on  Religion,  page  167. 


936  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  XXL     The  Issues  of  Obedience,     (a)  Knowledge 

SECOND  DAY 

The  Infinite  Capacity  and  Possibilities  of  the  Human  Mind 
[Ps.  139    '*.] 

"The  human  mind  is  the  brightest  display  of  the  power 
and  skill  of  the  infinite  mind  with  which  we  are  acquainted. 
It  is  created  and  placed  in  this  world  for  a  higher  state  of 
existence.  Here  its  faculties  begin  to  unfold  and  those 
mighty   energies   which   are  to   bear   it   forward  to   unending 

ages,  begin  to  discover  themselves [Some  imagine  that 

it  is]    dangerous  to  task  the  mind  too   often  lest  her  stores 

be  exhausted  or   her  faculties  become  weakened But 

you  need  have  no  such  fears ;  you  may  call  upon  your  mind 
today  for  its  highest  efforts  and  stretch  it  to  the  utmost  in 
your  power  and  you  have  done  yourself  a  kindness.  The  mind 
will  be  all  the  better  for  it.  Tomorrow  you  may  do  it  again 
and  each  time  it  will  answer  more  readily  to  your  calls." 

Todd  :    The  Student's  Manual,  pages  IS,  36,  37. 

"If  we  take,  for  example,  the  faculty  of  memory,  how 
very  obvious  it  is  that  as  we  pass  eternally  on  we  shall  have 
more  and  more  to  remember  and  finally  shall  have  gathered 
more  into  the  great  storehouse  of  the  soul  than  is  now  con- 
tained in  all  the  libraries  of  the  world.  And  there  is  not  one 
of  our  faculties  that  has  not,  in  its  volume,  a  similar  power 
of  expansion." 

Bushnell:  The  New  Life,  pages  310,  311. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  237 

Study  XXI.     The  Issues  of  Obedience,     (a)  Knowledge 

THIRD  DAY 

Is  Genius  Chance,  Inheritance  or  Character  P 

Col.  2  2'  3. 

"Genius  is  nine  parts  character;  the  prize  is  to  him  who 
dares,  not  merely  to  him  who  can;  the  supreme  desideratum  is 
self- fulfilment." 

R.  L.  Hartt:  Atlantic  Monthly,  Vol.  LXXXIII.,  1899, 
page  717. 

Is  genius  chance?  The  principle  of  evolution  teaches 
us  plainly  that  it  never  can  be.  It  may  appear  suddenly  and 
apparently  unaccountably  in  an  unexpected  place,  but  this 
must  be  either  inheritance  appearing  after  several  generations 
or  the  result  of  characteristics  acquired  by  the  man  himself  in 
his  environment. 

Is  genius  inheritance.''  Often.  But  inherited  what.^ 
Inherited  character.  Some  one  else  up  the  line  has  wrought 
and  labored  (John  4  ^^)  and  hammered  out  a  character,  and 
the  gifted  man  is  the  one  who  has  entered  into  this  labor  by 
inheritance,  even  if  he  has  not  labored  himself.  I  am  con- 
fident that  we  shall  some  day  be  able  to  show  how  the  gifted 
man  derived  the  genius  from  a  blend  of  the  patient  characters 
hammered  out  by  his  ancestors,  with  his  own. 

Is  genius  then  character?  In  the  final  analysis,  always — 
either  one's  own  acquisition  or  inherited.  A  man  with  a  long 
line  of  ancestors  of  character  from  whom  to  inherit  naturally 
starts  higher  up  in  the  scale  at  the  beginning,  but  it  is  possible 
for  any  man  to  make  marvelous  intellectual  advances  by  his 
own  advance  in  character  if  he  will  only  obey.  We  can  at 
least  hammer  out,  each  one  of  us,  in  his  own  life  one  of  the 
strands  which  some  descendant  will  unite  with  others  and  thus 
make  the  blend  for  genius  in  his  life.  What  form  the  genius 
will  take,  we  do  not  of  course  know  at  the  start.  All  men 
cannot  be  musical  geniuses.    But  every  man  has  in  him  or  can 


ass  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

acquire  the  capacity  to  reveal  to  the  world  some  mighty 
eternal  truth  of  science  or  humanity.  Every  human  life  was 
intended  to  be  some  thought  of  God  incarnate.  The  question 
is.  Will  we  let  him  express  it? 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  239 

Study  XXI.     The  Issues  of  Obedience,     (a)  Knowledge 

FOURTH  DAY 

The  Relation  of  Obedience  to  Intuition  and  Mental  Growth 

[Dan.  12  "]  ;  I  Cor.  1  5"^;  Col.  1^  Luke  2  *'•  *»,  21  '^; 
Acts  6  ^° ;  James  1  ^-«. 

I  Peter  4^^;  John  3^*,  5^'>,  7^;  I  John  2^"-"; 
II  Peter  1  ^\  ' 

"It  follows  in  the  same  manner  that  there  is  no  genuine 
character,  no  proper  education  which  does  not  include  re- 
ligion. Much  indeed  of  what  is  called  education  is  only  a 
power  of  deformity,  a  stimulus  of  overgrowth  in  the  lower 
functions  of  the  spirit,  as  a  creature  of  intelligence  which 
overlooks  and  leaves  to  wither,  causes  to  wither,  all  the  metro- 
politan powers  of  a  great  mind  and  character.  The  first 
light  of  the  mind  is  God,  the  only  genuine  heat  is  religion, 
imaginative  insight  is  kindled  only  by  the  fervors  of  holy 
truth,  all  noblest  breadth  and  volume  are  infolded  in  the 
regal  amplitude  of  God's  eternity  and  kingdom,  all  grandest 
energy  and  force  in  the  impulsions  of  duty  and  the  inspira- 
tions of  faith.  All  training,  separated  from  these,  operates 
even  a  shortening  of  faculty  as  truly  as  an  increase.  It  is 
a  kind  of  gymnastic  for  the  arm  that  paralyzes  the  spine. 
It  diminishes  the  quantity  of  the  subject  where  all  sovereign 
quantity  begins  and  increases  it  only  in  some  lower  point, 
where  it  ends ;  as  if  building  the  trunk  of  a  lighthouse  staunch 
and  tall  were  enough  without  preparing  any  light  and  revolv- 
ing clock  for  the  top.  Hence  it  is  that  many  scholars,  most 
bent  down  upon  their  tasks  and  digging  most  intently  into 
the  supposed  excellence,  turn  out,  after  all,  to  be  so  miserably 
diminished  in  all  that  constitutes  power.  Hence  also  that 
men  of  taste  are  so  often  attenuated  by  their  refinements  and 
dwarfed  by  the  overgrown  accuracy  and  polish  of  their 
attainments.  No  man  is  ever  educated  in  due  form,  save 
as  being  a  man;  that  is,  a  creature  related  to  God,  and  having 


240  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

all  his  highest  summits  of  capacity  unfolded  by  the  great 
thoughts,  and  greater  sentiments  and  nobler  inspirations  of 
religion." 

Bushnell:  The  New  Life,  page  181. 

"He  [Jesus]  never  taught  that  the  cultivation  of  the 
understanding  would  do  all  but  exactly  the  reverse.  And  so 
taught  his  apostles.  St.  Paul  taught  'The  world  by  wisdom 
knew  not  God.'  His  Master  said,  not  that  clear  intellect  will 
give  you  a  right  life,  but  that  a  right  heart  and  a  pure  life 
will  clarify  the  intellect.  Not,  become  a  man  of  letters  and 
learning  and  you  will  attain  spiritual  freedom;  but  do  rightly 
and  you  will  judge  justly;  obey  and  you  will  know." 

Robertson:  Sermons,  Second  Series,  No.  VII.  "Obedi- 
ence the  Organ  of  Spiritual  Knowledge." 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  Ul 


Study  XXI.     The  Issues  of  Obedience,     (a)  Knowledge 

FIFTH  DAY 

The   Marvelous   Growth   in   Knowledge    Possible   to  any    Man  Who 
Obeys  God's  Will 

John  8  3^-3*. 

Why  should  not  obedience  free  the  mind  for  larger 
things?  Does  sin  ever  help  to  make  a  man  more  of  a  genius, 
more  brilliant  intellectually?  If  so  let  us  know  what  particu- 
lar form  is  helpful  and  all  cultivate  it  assiduously.  Let  us 
at  once  establish  professorships  of  the  particular  form  of  sin 
which  leads  to  genius  in  our  schools  and  universities.  Does 
impurity  develop  memory  or  imagination  or  taste  and 
delicacy  of  perception?  Does  dishonesty  improve  the  power 
of  impartial  judgment,  or  does  selfishness  help  breadth  of 
vision?  Does  repression  of  one's  sympathies — one's  best  self 
— help  power  of  observation  or  insight?  Wherein  does  great- 
ness in  literature  and  life  lie  if  not  in  just  those  traits  which 
are  the  issues  of  purity  of  mind,  honesty  of  judgment,  un- 
selfishness of  heart  and  pouring  forth  of  soul? 


242  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

Study  XXL     The  Issues  of  Obedience,     (a)  Knowledge 

SIXTH  DAY 

"If  any  Man  Willeth  to  do  His  Will,  he  Shall  Know" 

John  7  '%  16  ^\ 

If  God  is  perfect  knowledge  (Prov.  2  '')  and  if  sin  clogs 
the  channel  of  our  intercourse  with  him  is  it  unreasonable  to 
suppose  that  if  a  man  could  clear  his  mind  of  the  sensual, 
remove  the  screens  which  deception,  prejudice,  anger,  and 
selfishness  rear  between  him  and  truth,  and  awaken  the  torpor 
of  the  soul ;  is  it  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  under  such  con- 
ditions revelations  of  higher  truth — which  are  the  marks  of 
true  genius — might  come  to  him  as  we  are  told  that  they  came 
to  the  prophets,  to  Jesus  and  the  Apostles  of  old?  At 
least  is  it  unreasonable  to  hold  that  they  are  more  liable 
to  come  to  such  a  man  than  if  his  receiving  instrument  is 
clogged  and  choked?  Such  a  way  of  arriving  at  the  truth 
does  not  minimize  the  intellectual.  It  requires  hard  work  of 
the  mind  and  of  the  will  as  well. 

"Science  seems  to  me  to  teach  in  the  highest  and  strong- 
est manner  the  great  truth  which  is  embodied  in  the  Chris- 
tian conception  of  entire  surrender  to  the  will  of  God.  Sit 
down  before  fact  as  a  little  child,  be  prepared  to  give  up 
every  preconceived  notion,  follow  humbly  wherever  and  to 
whatever  abysses  nature  leads  or  you  shall  learn  nothing." 

Huxley:  Life  and  Letters,  Vol.  I,  page  235. 

"Masaccio  can  by  no  means  be  taken  as  a  fair  instance 
of  the  painters  of  his  age.  Gifted  with  exceptional  powers 
he  overleaped  the  difficulties  of  his  art,  and  arrived  intuitively 
at  results  whereof  as  yet  no  scientific  certainty  had  been  se- 
cured. His  contemporaries  applied  humbler  talents  to  severe 
study  and  wrought  out  by  patient  industry  those  principles 
which  Masaccio  had  divined." 

Symonds:  Renaissance  in  Italy.  III. — The  Fine  Arts, 
page  231. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  243 

"But  his  [Drummond's]  discoveries  were  always  derived 
from  intuition  rather  than  from  reason,  and  although  we  can 
only  speak  from  the  lay  point  of  view,  we  may  suggest  that 
evolutionists  may  in  time,  by  laborious  work,  reach  the  point 
which  Drummond  attained  without  being  well  able  to  say  how 
he  got  there." 

Lennox:  Practical  Life  Work  of  Henry  Drummond, 
page  172. 


SEVENTH  DAY— REVIEW 

1.   Is  true  vision  from  God  ever  possible  without  an  act 
of  the  human  will  and  earnest  work  to  realize  it? 


STUDY    XXH 

The  Issues  of  Obedience  (continued)^B.     Protection  from  Harm  and 
Provision  for  All  Needs 

"And  I  say  unto  you  my  friends,  Be  not  afraid  of  them  that 
kill  the  body,  and  after  that  have  no  more  that  they  can  do.  But 
I  warn  you  whom  ye  shall  fear:  Fear  him,  who  after  he  hath  killed 
hath  power  to  cast  into  hell;  yea,  I  say  unto  you.  Fear  him.  Are 
not  five  sparrows  sold  for  two  pence?  and  not  one  of  them  is  for- 
gotten in  the  sight  of  God.  But  the  very  hairs  of  your  head  are 
all  numbered.     Fear  not:  ye  are  of  more  value  than  many  sparrows." 

—Luke  13:4-7. 

"But  seek  ye  first  his  kingdom,  and  his  righteousness,  and  all 
these  things  shall  be  added  unto  you."  — Matt.  6:  S3. 

"Jesus  answered  him,  Thou  wouldest  have  no  power  against  me 
except  it  were  given  thee  from  above."  — John  19:11. 

"Or  those  eighteen,  upon  whom  the  tower  in  Siloam  fell,  and 
killed  them,  think  ye  that  they  were  offenders  above  all  the  men 
that  dwell  in  Jerusalem?  I  tell  you.  Nay:  but  except  ye  repent,  ye 
shall  all  likewise  perish."  —Luke  13:4,5. 

"For  that  ye  ought  to  say.  If  the  Lord  will,  we  shall  both  live, 
and  do  this  or  that."  —James  4 :  15. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Hamack.    What  is  Christianity?  pages  72-76. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  247 

Study  XXII.     The  Issues  of  Obedience,  (b)  Protection  and  Provision 

FIRST  DAY 

The  Indifference  of  Jesus  to  Earthly  Privations,  Opposition  and  Physi- 
cal Danger 

Mark  4  35-41;  Matt.   6^^-^*;  Luke  ^^^'^\   13  ^i-^^;  John 

76-9^    11   8,  9^    12  33^    131^    171^ 

See  Speer,  The  Man  Christ  Jesus^  pages  5S-57,  62-67, 
94-99. 

What  was  the  attitude  of  Jesus  toward  opposition?  mis- 
representation? popular  opinion? 

Did  he  disregard  the  formal  conditions  of  success? 
On  what  supposition  only  can  this  be  explained? 
Did  he  ever  alter  plans  or  purposes? 
What  was  his  attitude  toward  his  own  death? 


248  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  XXn.     The  Issues  of  Obedience,  (b)  Protection  and  Provision 

SECOND  DAY 

No  Life  That  Stands   for  any  Real   Principle  can  Expect  to  Escape 
Privation,  Opposition  and  often  Physical  Peril  in  This  Life 


Phil.   1  29;  Matt.  5  ^''  ^\  10  ",  24  9;  Acts  20  ^^'  "-2*. 
Heb.  2",  10  32-39^  1312.  I  petej.  317^  4  14.  j^^^    7 


13-17  . 


John  7  ^ 

No  true  man  can  expect  to  pass  through  the  world  without 
encountering  privation,  opposition  and  often  physical  peril 
for  the  sake  of  principle.  Jesus  told  his  disciples,  "Woe 
unto  you  when  all  men  shall  speak  well  of  you,"  and  the 
apostolic  teaching  reiterated  tlie  same  idea  when  it  asserted 
that  as  many  as  live  godly  in  Christ  Jesus  shall  suffer  per- 
secution. Reproduction  and  growth  are  only  possible  in  the 
physical  world  through  sacrifice  and  suffering.  The  same 
principle  holds  true  in  the  mental,  social  and  spiritual  realms. 
We  have,  of  course,  no  right  to  deliberately  court  privation, 
opposition  and  pln^sical  peril  when  no  essential  principle  is  at 
stake  (Acts  21  "'^^).  We  are  to  remember,  too,  that  these 
things  are  a  part  of  the  world  order  and  come  to  Christians 
and  non-Christians  alike,  and  that  they  are  only  unendurable 
when  one  has  to  endure  them  alone  without  God's  help.  As 
a  part  of  his  plan,  these  things  are  a  benediction  and  a  joy 
(Matt.  5  "'  "). 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  249 


Study  XXn.     The  Issues  of  Obedience,  (b)  Protection  and  Provision 

THIRD  DAY 

What  are  Privation,  Suffering  and  Death  P 

John  13—17. 

See  Charles  Cuthbert  Hall,  Does  God  Send  Trouble? 

See  Lyman  Abbott,  The  Other  Room. 

See  Robert  E.  Speer,  Marks  of  a  Man,  page  34. 

Read  through  these  chapters  of  John  and  collect  all  the 
phrases  Jesus  uses  for  his  approaching  death,  and  then  study 
Jesus'  idea  of  death. 

"On  either  hand  [of  life]  we  behold  a  birth,  of  which,  as 
of  the  moon,  we  see  but  half.  We  are  outside  the  one,  wait- 
ing for  a  life  from  the  unknown;  we  are  inside  the  other, 
watching  the  departure  of  a  spirit  from  the  womb  of  the 
world  into  the  unknown.  To  the  region  whither  he  goes,  the 
man  enters  newly  born.  We  forget  that  it  is  a  birth,  and 
call  it  a  death.  The  body  he  leaves  behind  is  but  the  placenta 
by  which  he  drew  his  nourishment  from  his  mother  Earth. 
And  as  the  childbed  is  watched  on  earth  with  anxious  expec- 
tancy, so  the  couch  of  the  dying,  as  we  call  them,  may  be 
surrounded  by  the  birth-watchers  of  the  other  world,  waiting 
like  anxious  servants  to  open  the  door  to  which  this  world 
is  but  the  wind-blown  porch." 

M.\cdonald:  Robert  Falconer,  page 


350  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

Study  XXIL     The  Issues  of  Obedience,   (b)  Protection  and  Provision 

FOURTH  DAY 

God's  Promise  of  Provision  for  Our  Needs  and  of  Protection  from 
Harm  does  not  Exclude  Privation,  Suffering  or  Death  if  His  Plan 
for  the  World  Requires  such  Sacrifice  on  Our  Part.  But  He 
Promises  Us  that  if  We  Entrust  Our  Lives  Unreservedly  to  Him, 
such  Things  Will  Only  Come  to  Us  as  a  Part  of  His  Plan  and 
that  We  Shall  be  Amply  Provided  for  and  Protected  in  the  Path 
of  Obedience  in  all  Other  Instances 

I  Thess.  3^;  I  Cor.  4^  II  Cor.  4";  Rom.  8  ^^  14*; 
Phil.  1  ^2'  '\ 

II  Tim.  3  ^°-^^  4  «•  ^''  18;  Luke  10  ^^  Acts  18  »•  ",  22  ^''  ^\ 
Heb.  11  3--^%  13  5-  «;  I  Peter  4  ^^  John  10  ^^ 

God's  dispensations  of  provision  for  needs  and  protec- 
tion are  not  to  all  men.  He  does  not  force  even  these  upon 
men  unless  they  vpish  to  have  them  (Luke  13  ^'^).  It  is  not 
true  that  all  things  work  together  for  good  for  all  men.  Paul 
never  said  that.  He  said  that  to  them  that  love  God  all  things 
work  together  for  good,  even  to  them  that  are  called  accord- 
ing to  his  purpose.  If  a  man  prefers  to  live  his  own  life 
alone,  apart  from  God,  God  grants  him  the  same  opportunities 
from  which  to  make  a  happy  life  as  he  grants  his  own  fol- 
lowers (Matt.  5  *^).  If,  however,  man  allows  God  to  direct 
his  life  unreservedly  there  is  another  element  which  enters  in. 
"My  sheep  hear  my  voice,  and  I  know  them  and  they  follow 

me My   Father,   who   hath   given   them   unto    me,   is 

greater  than  all  and  no  one  is  able  to  snatch  them  out  of  the 

Father's   hand Thou   wouldst  have  no  power  against 

me,  except  it  were  given  thee  from  above." 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  251 

Study  XXII.     The  Issues  of  Obedience,    (b)  Protection  and  Provision 

FIFTH  DAY 

The  Relation  of  Obedience   to  Escape  from   Peril  and  Provision  for 
Our  Needs 

II  Cor.  1  «-^\:  Mark  10  '^-''' ;  Luke  13  ^"^  Acts  22  ''-^\ 
II  Tim.  4  ". 

"When  a  man  surrenders  his  life  unconditionally  to  God 
he,  for  the  first  time,  makes  it  possible  for  God  to  provide  for 
his  needs  or  save  him  from  possible  peril,  if  such  be  God's 
will,  inasmuch  as  provision  and  protection  not  only  pre- 
suppose the  act  of  the  giver  but  also  acceptance  by  the  re- 
ceiver. Since  God  forces  no  man  against  his  will,  before  the 
dedication  of  lives  to  him  there  is  no  assurance  that  the  indi- 
vidual will  let  God  act  in  a  given  case — the  channel  of  com- 
munication being  now  open,  now  closed.  After  the  dedication 
the  truly  surrendered  man  has  made  a  contract  with  God  to  be 
always  pure,  always  honest,  always  unselfish,  always  loving  in 
deeds  of  self-expression ;  he  may  fail  now  and  then,  but  he 
corrects  his  mistake  as  soon  as  he  realizes  it  and  presses  on,  so 
the  channel  is  always  open.  Through  compelling  convictions 
of  purity,  honesty,  unselfishness  or  service,  which  his  vow 
requires  him  to  translate  at  once  into  action,  he  can  now  be 
led  into  fields  of  provision  and  out  of  paths  of  danger.  Jesus 
teaches  plainly  several  truths  regarding  this  great  subject  in 
Luke  13^"®.  (1)  Accidents  and  calamities  are  not  visitations 
of  divine  justice  to  punish  sinners.  (2)  When  a  building  falls 
it  falls  alike  upon  the  morally  good  and  the  morally  bad  who 
are  under  it.  (3)  But  if  a  man  has  put  himself  in  God's 
hands,  God  makes  ^Drovision  that  he  shall  not  be  in  that  build- 
ing unless  the  plan  of  God  required  his  sacrifice  there  (John 
19^^). 

What  I  mean  is  this.  If  a  building  is  about  to  fall  as  a 
sure  consequence  of  the  great  invariable  laws  of  nature  which 
God  created  and  wliich  he  knows,  he  can  detain  me  from  going 
under  it  as  I  might  naturally  have  done  through  some  appeal 


252  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

to  my  purity,  honesty,  unselfishness  or  love,  which  coming  as 
an  interruption  halts  or  detains  me  before  I  reach  the  place. 
If  God  can  always  count  on  what  1  will  do  at  any  moment, 
why  cannot  he  lead  me  into  any  fields  of  provision  or  out  of 
any  path  of  danger  at  any  time,  perhaps  even  unconsciously 
on  my  part?  Is  not  the  variableness  of  the  human  will  the 
only  thing  that  stands  in  the  way  of  a  rational  system  of  pro- 
vision and  protection,  once  granted  that  God  can  communi- 
cate with  men? 

I  like  to  continue  in  fancy  the  story  of  the  Good  Samari- 
tan. I  like  to  think  that  after  the  robbers  had  finished  with 
their  victim  and  left  him  by  the  roadside  they  went  on  a  few 
miles  and  lay  in  wait  for  other  travelers.  The  priest  and  the 
Levite  came  by,  and  the  warning  from  God  that  would  have 
saved  them  from  the  possibility  of  peril  in  the  shape  of  the 
appeal  to  their  unselfishness  and  love  to  help  the  injured  man 
and  take  him  back  to  the  inn  was  unheeded.  They  went  on 
and  were  robbed.  But  the  Samaritan  turned  aside  at  the 
appeal  to  his  unselfishness — the  compelling  conviction  that 
he  ought  to  stop  and  help.  Thus  he  was  saved  from  the  trap 
laid  for  him  though  he  never  knew  that  danger  lurked  ahead. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  953 


Study  XXII.     The  Issues  of  Obedience,    (b)  Protection  and  Provision 

SIXTH  DAY 

"  Fear  Not,  Ye  are  of  More  Value  than  Many  Sparrows" 

Mark  6  «'  ». 

Why,  then,  should  we  ever  be  worried  or  afraid  in  the 
path  of  obedience?  May  it  not  be,  nay,  must  it  not  be  that  a 
path  is  prepared  for  each  one  of  us  through  life  where  every 
necessary  provision  is  made  for  our  needs,  where  harm  abso- 
lutely cannot  enter  if  we  will  but  walk  in  it — a  charmed  life, 
if  you  will — as  long  as  God  wishes  it  to  last? 

"When  I  went  to  Europe  thirty  years  ago  for  a  two 
years'  absence  and  left  you  a  little  fellow  of  three  months 
with  your  mother,  I  never  felt  any  anxiety  about  myself  or  my 
family,  for  it  seemed  to  me  a  part  of  God's  plan  for  me  and 
mine.  And  I  knew  He  would  care  for  us.  So  I  feel  now 
about  you  and  j'^ours." 

A  Father's  Steamer  Letter,  August  27,  '07. 

"But  why  fear  at  all?  If  we  keep  spending  ourselves 
for  the  general  good,  fear  has  no  place.  God  will  take  care 
not  to  lose  his  partner." 

Patton  :  New  Basis  of  Civilisation. 


254,  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  XXIL     The  Issues  of  Obedience,    (b)  Protection  and  Provision 

SEVENTH  DAY— REVIEW 

1.  What  is  the  fundamental  difference  between  Jesus' 
doctrine  of  protection  and  fatalism? 

2.  Which  recognizes  a  human  side  to  the  question — an 
act  of  will? 

3.  If  you  like  Paul  were  to  be  put  in  prison  unjustly,  in 
the  prime  of  life,  as  he  was  in  Caesarea,  vould  you  doubt  God's 
fairness  and  goodness? 


STUDY  xxm 

The  Issues  of  Obedience — C.     Assurance  as  to  One's  Duty  and  Power 
to  Achieve  Results 

"He  that  believeth  on  me,  the  works  that  I  do  shall  he  do  also; 
and  greater  works  than  these  shall  he  do;  because  I  go  to  the 
Father."  —John  I4 :  12. 

"And  this  is  the  boldness  which  we  have  toward  him,  that,  if 
we  ask  anything  according  to  his  will,  he  heareth  us." 

— /  John  5: 14. 

"So  then,  my  beloved,  even  as  ye  have  always  obeyed,  not  as  in 
my  presence  only,  but  now  much  more  in  my  absence,  work  out 
your  own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling;  for  it  is  God  who  work- 
eth  in  you  both  to  will  and  to  work,  for  his  good  pleasure." 

—Phil.  2:12,13. 

"God  also  bearing  witness  with  them,  both  by  signs  and  wonders, 
and  by  manifold  powers,  and  by  gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  according 
to  his  own  will."  — Heb.2:4. 

"If  ye  abide  in  me,  and  my  words  abide  in  you,  ask  what- 
soever ye  will,  and  it  shall  be  done  unto  you."  — John  15:  7 

"For  as  through  the  one  man's  disobedience  the  many  were 
made  sinners,  even  so  through  the  obedience  of  the  one  shall  the 
many  be  made  righteous."  — Rom.  5:19. 

"And  such  confidence  have  we  through  Christ  to  God-ward: 
not  that  we  are  sufficient  of  ourselves:  ....  but  our  sufficiency  is 
from  God."  — //  Cor.  3:4.5. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Moody.    Secret  Power. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  957 

Study  XXm.     The  Issues  of  Obedience,     (c)  Assurance  and  Power 

FIRST  DAY 

The  Unfaltering  Assurance  and  Mighty  Achievements  of  Jesus 

Gal.  1  3.  *;  Matt.  26  "^  Luke  4  ^^  9  ^\  20  \ 
John  4  ".  ",  5  "•  20'  3«,  8  ". 

See  Speer,  The  Man  Christ  Jesus,  pages  28-40. 

With  what  social  disadvantages  did  Jesus  enter  upon  his 
work .? 

What  social  conventions  did  he  dare  to  disregard.'' 

In  what  way  were  his  plans  revolutionary? 

Did  he  finish  his  work? 

What  social  and  political  changes  in  history  can  be 
traced  to  his  influence? 


S58  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  XXIIL     The  Issues  of  Obedience,     (c)  Assurance  and  Power 

SECOND  DAY 

Assurance  and  Sure   Conviction  as  to  Duty,  the  Prerequisites  for  all 
Great  Achievements,  Possible  to  Those  Who  Obey 

I  Thess.  1*'^  I  Cor.  1^;  Col.  4>^^;  Eph.  3^^;  Matt. 
18";  Acts  4>^\ 

The  one  essential  for  all  successful  work  is  conviction 
that  a  man  is  in  the  right  place.  Just  as  surely  as  one  doubts  or 
distrusts  his  mission  his  work  fails.  This  assurance  was  the 
secret  of  Paul's  mightj^  achievements  (I  Cor.  1  ^;  Gal.  1  ^^'  ^^). 
It  is  the  key  to  Jesus'  life  (Luke  19 '^  Matt.  18").  Both 
were  lives  with  a  definite  purpose.  Only  when  a  man  knows 
that  he  is  in  his  work  called  of  God  can  he  successfully  over- 
come the  difficulties  and  face  the  disappointments  that  always 
accompany  a  great  task.  If  a  man  is  God's  represen- 
tative and  knows  that  he  is  obeying  orders  he  dares  go 
ahead  since  the  responsibility  for  the  result  lies  not  with  him 
but  with  God. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  259 


Study  XXIII.     The  Issues  of  Obedience,     (c)  Assurance  and  Power 

THIRD  DAY 

The  Infinite  Possibilities  of  Achievement  of  Which  Man  is  Capable 
Rev.  14  ^^ 

"Only  a  few  years  ago  he   [man]   lay  in  his  cradle,  a 

barely   breathing  principle  of  life He  conquers   now 

the  sea  and  its  storms.  He  climbs  the  heavens  and  searches 
out  the  mysteries  of  the  stars.  He  harnesses  the  lightning.  He 
bids  the  rocks  dissolve  and  summons  the  secret  atoms  to  give 
up  their  names  and  laws.  He  subdues  the  face  of  the  world 
and  compels  the  forces  of  the  waters  and  the  fires  to  be  his 
servants.  He  makes  laws,  hurls  empires  down  upon  empires 
in  the  fields  of  war,  speaks  words  that  cannot  die,  sings  to 
distant  realms  and  peoples  across  vast  ages  of  time:  in  a  word, 
he  executes  all  that  is  included  in  history,  showing  his  tre- 
mendous energy  in  almost  everything  that  stirs  the  silence  and 
changes  the  conditions  of  the  world.  Everything  is  trans- 
formed by  him  even  up  to  the  stars.  Not  all  the  winds  and 
storms  and  earthquakes  and  sea»  and  seasons  of  the  world 
have  done  so  much  to  revolutionize  the  world  as  he,  the  power 
of  an  endless  life,  has  done  since  the  day  he  came  forth  upon 
it  and  received,  as  he  is  most  truly  declared  to  have  done, 

dominion  over  it And  yet  we  have  in  the  power  thus 

developed,  nothing  more  than  a  mere  hint  or  initial  sign  of 
what  is  to  be  the  real  stature  of  his  personality  in  the  process 
of  his  everlasting  development." 

Bushnell:  The  New  Life,  pages  309,  310. 


260  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  XXni.     The  Issues  of  Obedience,     (c)  Assurance  and  Power 

FOURTH  DAY 

"The  Strength  Which  God  Supplieth" 

[Isaiah    40='«-^i];    II    Cor.    5";    Eph.    i  i^,  is,  19.    phn. 

4  ^3.  19. 


I  Tim.  1  12;  II  Tim.  1  ';  Matt.  4  *;  Luke  1  *». 
Acts  1  ^  26  22;  I  Peter  4  ^^ ;  John  4  ^2-34^ 

Spend  this  day's  study  on  a  careful  consideration  of  all 
the  Scripture  passages  given  above.  How  does  this  strength 
make  itself  felt  and  what  is  its  source.''  To  what  extent  may 
it  be  called  upon.'' 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  Ml 

Study  XXIII.     The  Issues  of  Obedience,     (c)  Assurance  and  Power 

FIFTH  DAY 

The  Relation  of  Obedience  to  Assurance  and  Achievement 

[Lev.  26  3-  «]  ;  II  Cor.  12  »•  ",  13  «;  Rom.  5  ^^  Col.  1  ^'j 
Mark  9  "^,10  =^»'  3°,  11";  Matt.  21  -^^;  Luke  6 


47-49 


John  15  ^  IJohn  4  ^^- ^^  5  *. 

"The  world  has  yet  to  see  what  God  can  accomplish 
through  a  man  who  will  give  himself  up  wholly  to  His  will." 

"He  that  hath  clean  hands  shall  wax  stronger  and 
stronger." 

In  an  actual  physical  contest  the  bully  with  big  muscles 
and  a  knowledge  that  he  is  in  the  wrong  is  no  match  for  the 
man  with  average  muscles  and  truth  on  his  side. 

"They  therefore  can  who  will  what  ought  to  be." 

Leonardo  da  Vinci. 

"The  ordinary  man  who  wills  to  have  a  mind  freed  from 
the  shackles  of  impure  imagery,  an  eye  that  looks  at  things 
squarely  and  brooks  deception  neither  of  self  nor  of  others,  a 
hand  that  will  not  spare  itself  in  work,  and  a  heart  that  will 
express  without  reserve  its  honest  convictions  and  genuine 
affections,  will  often  even  in  this  earthly  life  outstrip  the 
brilliant  genius,  who  though  starting  far  ahead  in  the  race 
because  of  inherited  gifts,  is  shackled  and  ultimately  over- 
thrown by  impurity,  dishonesty,  selfishness  or  atrophy  of 
heart.  And  who  can  doubt  the  ultimate  result  when  we  enter 
upon  real  living  when  these  days  of  preparations  and  layings 
of  foundations  are  over." 

A  Life  with  a  Purpose,  pages  21/.,  25. 


262  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

Study  XXin.      The  Issues  of  Obedience,     (c)  Assurance  and  Power 

SIXTH  DAY 

"He    (i.  e.  any   Man)  That  Believeth  in  Me Greater  Works 

than  These  Shall  He  Do" 

John  14  ^2 

What  are  the  limits  of  the  work  I  might  accomplish  in 
this  brief  life  if  I  could  lay  hold  on  the  strength  which  God 
supplieth?  Is  it  possible  that  God  has  a  plan  already  pre- 
pared, conditional  only  upon  my  acceptance  of  it,  to  use  me, 
weak  as  I  am,  for  some  mighty  task  here  or  to  prepare  me  for 
some  mightier  service  in  the  next  world? 

"We  may  not  be  able  today  to  think  Plato's  thought, 
create  Shakespeare's  Hamlet  or  live  with  the  moral  sublimity 
of  Lincoln,  but  give  us  eternity  and  infinite  opportunity  and 
there  is  no  limit  to  our  possible  growth  in  these  directions." 

Griggs  :  Moral  Education,  page  23, 


SEVENTH  DAY— REVIEW 

1 .  What  is  finished  work  ? 

2.  Is  it  to  be  judged  by  quality  or  quantity? 

3.  Has  a  young  man  who  dies  at  the  age  of  seventeen 
finished  his  work? 

4.  Is  any  work  finished,  no  matter  how  complete  it  may 
be,  that  is  not  pure,  honest,  unselfish  or  the  fullest  expres- 
sion of  one's  self? 


STUI3Y    XXIV 

The  Issues  of  Obedience— D.     Constant  Companionship 

"For  whosoever  shall  do  the  will  of  God,  the  same  is  my  brother, 
and  sister,  and  mother."  —Mark  3:35. 

"If  a  man  love  me,  he  will  keep  my  word:  and  my  Father  will 
love  him,  and  we  will  come  unto  him,  and  make  our  abode  with  him." 

—John  14 :  23. 

"But  as  many  as  received  him,  to  them  gave  he  the  right  to  be- 
come children  of  God,  even  to  them  that  believe  on  his  name:  who 
were  born,  not  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  wiU 
of  man,  but  of  God."  -^ofen  1 :  U,  IS. 

"The  friendship  of  Jehovah  is  with  them  that  fear  him;  and  he 
WiU  shew  them  his  covenant."  —Psalm  25:  I4. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Abbott,  Lyman.     The  Great  Companion. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  965 

Study  XXrV.     The  Issues  of  Obedience,  (d)  Constant  Companionship 

FIRST  DAY 

The  Constant  Fellowship  of  Jesus  with  God 
John  5  20,  8  "•  ==^'  "•  '^  10  3°'  38,  16  32. 

See  Speer,  Principles  of  Jesus,  Chapter  I. — "Jesus  and 
the  Father." 

What  names  does  Jesus  use  for  God? 

Was  his  fellowship  with  God  real?  On  what  occasions 
did  he  address  him  as  a  person?  Was  he  ever  without  the 
sense  of  God's  presence? 


266  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  XXrV*     The  Issues  of  Obedience,  (d)  Constant  Companionship 

SECOND  DAY 

Man  is  a  Social  Being  Who  can  only  Exist  in  Society 

Mark  15  3*;  Luke  23  *^ 

"The  next  thing  that  the  ideal  man  needs  is  society.  Man 
is  not  made  to  be  alone.  He  needs  friendships.  Without  so- 
ciety the  ideal  man  would  be  a  monster,  a  contradiction.  You 
must  give  him  friendship.     Now  whom  will  you  give  him.''" 

Drummond:  The  Ideal  Life,  page  234- 

"No  statements  about  God  can  satisfy  the  soul  in  this  its 
quest  after  God.  Nothing  can  take  the  place  of  the  personal 
finding  of  him ;  personal  communion  with  him ;  personal  friend- 
ship  with   him Nothing   can    satisfy   the   quest    after 

God  except  God  himself.  We  must  come  to  know  him  as 
Abraham  knew  him,  as  David  knew  Iiim,  as  Isaiah  knew  him, 
as  Paul  knew  him,  or  our  quest  will  never  be  satisfied.  *0  that 
I  knew  where  I  might  find  him !'  is  the  cry  of  humanity,  and 
only  God  himself  can  satisfy  it." 

Abbott:  The  Great  Companion,  pages  2Jf.,  26, 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  267 

Study  XXIY.     The  Issues  of  Obedience,  (d)  Constant  Companionship 

THIRD  DAY 

Loneliness  or  Isolation  Impossible  to  the  Surrendered  Life  even  though 
it  be  Deserted  by  all  Earthly  Friends 

II  Cor.  4  8-  i°-i«;  Rom.  8  ^^-  ^^ ;  II  Tim.  4  "•  ";  Mark  6  *^ 
John  14^«'-i-",  15  ^%  16^==. 

The  reason  why  true  Christians  have  always  been  able  to 
accomplish  so  much  under  the  most  difficult  conditions  and  in 
the  most  lonely  spots  is  that  they  are  never  in  reality  alone. 
An  isolated  Christian  is  an  impossibility  even  in  solitary  con- 
finement. He  has  always  the  companionship  of  another  per- 
sonality— God. 


FOURTH  DAY 

"For  Whosoever  Shall  do  the  Will  of  My  Father  Who  is  in  Heaven, 
He  is  My  Brother,  and  Sister,  and  Mother" 

Matt.  12^°. 

"Yes,  my  brother,  and  my  sister,  and  my  mother 

Some  young  man  here  is  suffering  fierce  temptation.  Today 
he  feels  strong  but  tomorrow  his  Sabbath  resolutions  will 
desert  him.  What  will  his  companions  say  if  he  does  not 
join  them?  He  cannot  face  them  if  he  is  to  play  the  Christian. 
Companions !  What  are  all  the  companions  in  the  world  to 
this."*  What  are  all  the  friendships,  the  truest  and  the  best, 
to  the  dear  and  sacred  brotherhood  of  Christ.''  'He  that 
doeth  the  will  of  my  Father  the  same  is  my  brother.'  " 

Drummond:  The  Ideal  Life,  pages  235,  2S6. 


268  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  XXIV.     The  Issues  of  Obedience,  (d)  Constant  Companionship 

FIFTH  DAY 

The  Relation  of  Obedience  to  Fellowship  with  God 
Rev.  3  20;  John  12^^;  I  John  1  ^'  «•  \  2  *. 

Purity.     Matt.  5  ^ 
Honesty.     Rev,  22  ^^ 
Unselfishness.     Heb.  12". 
Love.     Matt.  25  ""*« ;  I  John  4  ^\ 

"Study  yesterday  in  order  to  learn  wisdom  for  tomorrow, 
but  when  the  lesson  has  been  learned  study  it  no  longer.  We 
ought  to  learn  wisdom  from  our  mistakes ;  we  ought  to  acquire 
virtues  from  our  sins.  Why  this  act  of  folly  which  we  lament.'' 
Spend  no  time  in  repining;  but  spend  all  the  time  that  is 
necessary  in  order  to  learn  its  lesson.  Was  it  due  to  vanity.'' 
or  greed.''  or  appetite.''  or  self-conceit.''  or  a  weak  and  way- 
ward will.''  Find  out.  Then  be  on  guard  against  the  same 
enemy  to  your  honor  when  he  attacks  you  at  a  new  point  and 
under  new  circumstances.  We  all  make  mistakes;  we  all  com- 
mit transgressions.  But  we  ought  not  to  repeat  the  same 
mistakes — that  is  to  blunder ;  we  ought  not  to  commit  the  same 
transgressions — that  is  doubly  dishonorable.  Forget  the 
things  which  are  behind,  and  stretch  forward  to  the  things 

which  are  before No  man  ought  to  allow  the  memory 

of  the  past  to  prevent  his  peace  and  joy  in  present  fellowship 
with  God." 

Abbott:  The  Great  Companion,  pages  137-139. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  269 


Study  XXIV.     The  Issues  of  Obedience,  (d)  Constant  Companionship 

SIXTH  DAY 

"Lo,  I  am  with  You  Alway" 

Matt.  18  20,28  20;  I  John  1  ^ 

What  a  motive  to  the  highest  and  noblest  in  life  this 
promise  is !  We  are  never  alone.  Is  this  too  great  a  thought 
for  me  to  realize — Jesus  by  my  side  as  I  write,  in  the  lecture 
room  with  me  tomorrow,  on  the  train  as  I  journey  alone.'' 

"This  is  the  value  of  those  quiet  hours  which  the  night 
sometimes  affords  us.  Insomnia  has  lost  its  dread  since  I 
learned  the  meaning  of  the  Psalmist's  declaration:  'My  mouth 
shall  praise  thee  with  joyful  lips  when  I  remember  thee  upon 
my  bed,  and  meditate  on  thee  in  the  night  watches.'  The 
man  who  spends  his  sleepless  hours  in  such  remembrance  makes 
them  joyful  hours.  He  does  not  lie  tossing  to  and  fro,  won- 
dering whether  he  shall  ever  fall  asleep  again,  anxious  lest  he 
shall  prove  unfitted  for  the  morrow's  duties,  trying  to  put 
himself  to  sleep  by  endless  combinations  of  numbers  or  by 
repeating  senseless  rhymes:  he  lies  restfully  and  reads  in  the 
book  of  his  remembrance  the  record  of  his  Father's  love,  or 
looks  calmly  at  the  morrow's  duties  or  the  morrow's  perils 
because  he  looks  at  them  through  his  Father's  eyes,  or  com- 
munes with  his  own  heart  and  in  its  uninterpretable  experi- 
ences hears  the  voice  of  his  Father,  or  simply  is  still  and 
knows  that  God  is  God." 

Abbott:  The  Great  Companion,  pages  157,  158. 


i7&  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  XXIV.     The  Issues  of  Obedience,   (d)  Constant  Companionship 

SEVENTH  DAY— REVIEW 

1.  Does  God  reveal  himself  to  mankind  today  in  the  same 
way  as  before  the  incarnation? 

2.  What  is  the  meaning  of  John  20  "^  ? 

3.  What  passages  in  Paul's  letters  attest  a  living  fellow- 
ship with  God? 


STUDY    XXV 

The  Issues  of  Obedience — E.     Eternal  Life 

"And  the  world  passeth  away,  and  the  lust  thereof;  but  he  that 
doeth  the  will  of  God  abideth  forever."  —1  John  2:17. 

"Not  everyone  that  saith  unto  me,  Lord,  Lord,  shall  enter  into 
the  kingdom  of  heaven;  but  he  that  doeth  the  will  of  my  Father 
who  is  in  heaven."  —Matt.  7:21. 

"And  this  is  the  will  of  him  that  sent  me,  that  of  all  that  which 
he  hath  given  me  I  should  lose  nothing,  but  should  raise  it  up  at  the 
last  day.  For  this  is  the  will  of  my  Father,  that  everyone  that 
beholdeth  the  Son,  and  believeth  on  him,  should  have  eternal  Dfe; 
and  I  will  raise  him  up  at  the  last  day."  — John  6:39,40. 

"Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  If  a  man  keep  my  word,  he 
shall  never  see  death."  — John  8:51. 

"He  that  soweth  unto  the  Spirit  shall  of  the  Spirit  reap  eternal 
life."  —Gal.  6:8. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Bushnell.     The  New  Life.     XVI.— "The  Power  of  an  Endless 
Ufe." 

Abbott,  Lyman.    The  Other  Room. 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  978 


Study  XXV.     The  Issues  of  Obedience,     (e)  Eternal  Life 

FIRST  DAY 

The  Power  of  an  Endless  Life 

Rom.  6  " ;  Heb.  2  "•  ",  7  '". 

"The  difference  between  the  mortal  and  immortal  life  is 
not  made  by  death.  The  immortal  life  is  the  life  which  pain, 
sickness,  and  death  cannot  terminate.  It  is  the  life  of  faith, 
of  hope,  of  love.  Such  life  is  immortal  life,  because  mortality 
cannot  touch  it.  The  body  is  always  dying;  it  is  in  an  ever- 
perpetual  process  of  decay;  but  the  spirit  of  faith,  hope,  and 
love  is  in  no  process  of  decay;  it  is  not  mortal.     It  is  eternal 

because   it   stands   in   no   time-relation Christ   was   as 

immortal  when  hanging  apparently  helpless  on  the  cross  as 
when  he  rose  from  the  tomb." 

Abbott:  The  Other  Room,  pages  99,  100. 


274  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  XXV.     The  Issues  of  Obedience,     (e)  Eternal  Life 

SECOND  DAY 

Eternal  Life  may  Begin  Here  and   Now  on  This  Earth  through  the 
Act  of  Obedience 

Rom.  6*'»-"'^^;  I  Tim.  6  "•  ^»;  II  Tim.  1  i». 

Luke  10  2",  17  -';  Heb.  11  ^  12  \  13'^;  Rev.  21  ^ 

John    3  1*.  isTIiTse^    414^    52*-*%    554-57.63^    g  51^    10"'", 

J  1   25,  26^    17  3.    J    JqJjjj  2  25^    S   1*75^^2,  20_ 

"Not  all  men  wish  for  immortality.  They  wish  to  live 
forever,  but  living  forever  is  not  immortality.  Immortality 
is  living  the  life  that  cannot  die,  because  it  is  the  life  of  the 
spirit.  If  we  wish  to  believe  in  such  a  life  as  a  life  hereafter, 
we  must  believe  in  it  as  the  life  worth  living  here;  if  we  wish 
to  possess  it  hereafter,  we  must  wish  to  possess  it  here.  Do 
we?  ....  If  I  would  have  a  right  to  the  tree  of  life,  if  I 
would  have  a  right  to  know  that  there  is  a  tree  of  life,  I  must 
seek  this  immortal  life  here,  and  seek  it  from  the  God  who  is 
here,  and  seek  it  through  the  channel  that  he  opens  for  us. 
....  If  we  are  to  pluck  the  fruit  from  the  tree  of  life, 
we  must  have  a  right  to  it.  If  we  would  have  a  rational 
hope  in  life  hereafter,  we  must  have  the  immortal  life  here. 
To  have  faith  in  immortality  we  must  practice  immortality." 
Abbott:  Ibid.,  pages  101-107  (passim). 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  9T5 

Study  XXV.     The  Issues  of  Obedience,     (e)  Eternal  Life 

THIRD  DAY 

The  Evidences  of  Eternal  Life  Which  We  may  Enjoy  through 
Obedience  Here  and  Now  (Rom.  14:  17).  (a)  The  Freedom  of 
Righteousness 

Gal.  2*'  5^'";  I  Cor.   10  ^^   II  Cor.  3  ^^  Rom.  8^''\ 

James  1  ^^^  2  ^2.  j  pg^^j.  g  15,  le.  John  8^^'^-'^*^;  I  John 
4  "•  ^^ 

Study   carefully   the   Scripture   passages    given    for   this 
day's  study,  grouping  your  results  under  the  heads  of — 

(a)  The  exact  meaning  of  Freedom. 

(b)  How  is  it  to  be  obtained.'' 

(c)  The  results  of  its  possession  on  the  individual. 


2T6  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

Study  XXV.     The  Issues  of  Obedience,     (e)  Eternal  Life 

FOURTH  DAY 

The    Evidences    of    Eternal    Life    Which    We    may    Enjoy   through 
Obedience  Here  and  Now  (Rom.  14:  17).     (b)    Joy 

Rom.  14  ";  Matt.  6  ";  Acts  2  *«•  *^ 

Heb.  1  «;  I  Peter  1  »;  John  15  ",  l6  "o-^*,  17  ". 

I  John  1  *. 

(Follow  directions  under  Third  Day  substituting  "Joy" 
for  "Freedom.") 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  9T7 

Study  XXV.     The  Issues  of  Obedience,     (e)  Eternal  Life 

FIFTH  DAY 

The    Evidences    of    Eternal    Life    Which    We    may    Enjoy    through 
Obedience  Here  and  Now  (Rom.  14:  17).     (c)     Peace 

I  Cor.  7  ''b;  Rom.  5  S  8  «,  14  i^;  Luke  2  ^S  19  ''•  ". 
Acts  S  '\  9  ^'h;  John  11^%  16  ^\ 


(Follow  directions  under  Third  Day,  substituting  "Peace" 
for  "Freedom.") 


278  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

Study  XXV.     The  Issues  of  Obedience,     (e)  Eternal  Life 

SIXTH  DAY 

*'He  That  Doeth  the  Will  of  God  Abideth  Forever" 

I  John  2  ". 

Can  we  even  faintly  grasp  the  full  meaning  of  these 
words,  "He  that  doeth  the  will  of  God  abideth  forever"? 
Abideth  how?  In  infinite  knowledge,  with  infinite  provision 
made  for  all  wants,  with  infinite  power  to  achieve  and  op- 
portunity for  development,  in  everlasting  companionship,  in 
perfect  freedom,  perfect  joy,  perfect  peace. 

No  man,  who  through  the  deliberate  act  of  surrender  of 
the  human  will  to  absolute  standards  of  purity,  honesty,  un- 
selfishness and  love,  has  once  felt  the  coursing  of  these  im- 
mortal powers  in  his  spirit  can  ever  after  find  any  experi- 
ence of  this  new  life  tame  or  commonplace. 

Why  should  we  hesitate  to  make  the  act  of  enlistment  or 
surrender  complete?  Just  the  other  side  of  complete  sur- 
render is  God  and  the  power  of  an  endless  life. 

"Laid  on  thine  altar,  O  my  Lord  divine. 

Accept  this   gift   today   for  Jesus'   sake: 
1  have  no  jewels  to  adorn  thy  shrine. 

No  far-famed  sacrifice  to  make; 
But  here  within  my  trembling  hand  I  bring 

This  will   of  mine — a  thing  that   seemeth   small. 
But  thou  alone,  O  Lord,  canst  understand 

How  when  I  yield  thee  this,  I  yield  mine  all. 

"Hidden  within,  thy  searching  gaze  can  see 

Struggles  of  passion,  visions  of  delight. 
All  that  I  have  or  am  or  fain  would  be — 

Deep  loves,  fond  hopes  and  longings  infinite. 
It  has  been  wet  with  tears  and  hushed  with  sighs, 

Crushed  in  my  grasp  till  beauty  it  hath  none; 
Now  from  thy  footstool  where  it  vanquished  lies, 

The  prayer  ascendeth,  'May  thy  will  be  done.' 


A  MAN'S  LIFEWORK  279 

"Take  it,  O  Father,  ere  my  courage  fail. 

And  merge  it  so  in  thine  own  will,  that  e'en 
If  in  some  desperate  hour  my  cries  prevail 

And  thou  give  back  my  gift  it  may  have  been 
So  changed,  so  purified,  so  fair  have  grown. 

So  one  with  thee,  so  filled  with  grace  divine, 
I  may  not  feel  or  know  it  as  my  own, 

But,  gaining  back  my  will,  may  find  it  thine." 


»Q  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


Study  XXV.     The  Issues  of  Obedience,     (e)  Eternal  Life 

SEVENTH  DAY— CONCLUSION 

"Now  the  God  of  peace,  who  brought  again  from  the 
dead  the  great  shepherd  of  the  sheep  with  the  blood  of  an 
eternal  covenant,  even  our  Lord  Jesus,  make  you  perfect  in 
every  good  thing  to  do  his  will,  working  in  us  that  which  is 
well-pleasing  in  his  sight,  through  Jesus  Christ;  to  whom 
be  the  glory,  forever  and  ever.    Amen." 

— Hebrews  13:20,21. 


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